
^ni/h chj 




POKTLAND 



ILLUSTKATED. 



BY 



JOHI^ 




PORTLAND: \ ^ 

W. S. JONES, PUBLISH] 
1874. 







Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

W. S. JONES, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PORTLAND : 
EusTis & Castell, Pkinteks. 



PORTLAND : 

PAST-PRESENT AND FUTURE, 



That Portland has never had justice, nor indeed, anything like justice done 
her, begins to be felt and acknowledged by pleasure-seekers and the great 
business-world. 

Her capabilities, advantages and resources are found to be absolutely surpris- 
ing, when carefully investigated ; so that, in giving an account of them, one 
can hardly avoid the appearance of great exaggeration. 

Whole generations have passed away since our ship-building, our fisheries, our 
lumbering operations, our adventurous temper, and the beauty of our women ; 
our commercial enterprize, and our readiness to take the field with "a fire in 
our bones," whenever called upon by our country, or threatened by interlopers, 
red men or white, have been talked about over sea, and everywhere among our- 
selves, more as if we were not only "a peculiar people zealous of good works," 
but numerous, warlike and powerful, with slumbering energies of a somewhat 
dangerous character, than as a small, sober, christianized community, self-pos- 
sessed, industrious and thrifty, and at home everywhere, on land or sea. 

Beginning with a liberal contribution of men to our first Indian war, of 167.5, 
and furnishing four companies in 174.5, finishing off with five thousand alto- 
gether in the Great Rebellion, to say nothing of intermediate periods, nothing 
of the second Indian war in 1688, when Portland, then Falmouth, was utterly 
destroyed for the second time, and the whole population, amounting to six or 
seven hundred, were obliged to flee for their lives, followed by the French and 
their savage alies, until Church, who had been so greatly distinguished in the 
war with Philip of Mount-Hope, came to their relief with six or eight compan- 
ies ; nothing of Louisburg and the French war ; nothing of the Revolutionary 
war in 1770, when the town was laid in ashes by Mo watt; nothing of the 
Mexican war, and the war with Great Britian from 1812 to 1815, Portland 
never shrank, nor faltered, in the discharge of her duty to herself and her 
country. 

But notwithstanding these wars, and the terrible embargo which desolated 
our wharves, and the non-importation acts, and non-intercourse laws, Portland 
continued her flourishing career. 

And yet, until we were burnt over in 1866, and our Board of Trade sprang up 
of itself, somewhat like the new growth, after a great fire through an aboriginal 
wilderness, followed by the Board of Manufacturers, and after a while, by the 



4 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

late Industrial Exhibition, which we are but just through with, so that we 
have hardly yet recovered from our surprise, we had no true knowledge of 
ourselves, and of our capabilities. 

And now, after seeing our future foreshadowed with the distinctness of 
Hebrew prophecy, and our inevitable growth revealed to us, with all our hidden 
capabilities, advantages and resources, and our silent, unostentatious achieve- 
ments within the last few years, hitherto but imperfectly understood, or wholly 
overlooked, by the wisest among us, what is there to stay our progress hereafter, 
as a manufacturing population? or to hinder the growth of our commerce and 
'business character? since in 1870 our manufactxiring products amounted to no 
less than $9,000,000, though we never knew it, until the report of the Board of 
Manufacturers appeared. 

Having been tried by fire, and in a measure purged, purified, and set a-think- 
ing, we have begun to question ourselves, and to ask in all seriousness, whether 
we have not been shamefully blind to some of our peculiar advantages, strange- 
ly neglectful of our greatest privileges, and correspondingly unthankful. 

To have been so long unacquainted with ourselves, and only to have waked 
up, within the last few months, would appear unaccountable; but then, we are 
now in earnest, and by calling upon our business-men to bestir themselves, and 
rousing our whole community, as by a thunder-peal at dead of night, we have 
succeeded in astonishing not only outsiders, travelers and strangers in seai'ch 
of the picturesque and beautiful, but our largest property-holders, and the most 
far-seeing and sagacious of our business-men, however well acquainted with 
our past doings and history, they had supposed themselves to be. 

For a long time, agriculture throughout our whole neighborhood was neglected, 
and the best energies of our population were employed in lumbering, then, 
in the West-India trade, then, partly in freighting, and partly in the llussian 
trade, so that we were known only as a commercial association, regardless alike 
of manufacturers and agricultvire. 

But times have changed. Our railroads, with sixty-five trains, entering and 
leaving daily. Our dry docks, one of which is four hundred and twenty-five 
feet long by one hundred feet in width, and of a depth greater than that of any 
other in the United States, being twenty-three feet, while even the smaller is 
one hundred and seventy-five by eighty feet with a draught of twelve feet ; our 
water supply the purest we know of anywhere, as proved by careful and patient 
analysis, from a lake seventeen miles off, and measuring two hundred square 
miles, at an elevation of two hundred and forty-seven feet above tide water, 
with a reservoir containing twelve millions of gallons, upon a hill which of 
itself stands 175 1-2 feet above tide water, for the supply of our largest wants ; 
our horse railroads, our gas-company, and our manufacturers, of which some- 
thing is to be said hereafter, all these have had their awakening influences ; 
and co-operating as they do, all at once, are we not fully justified in our largest 
expectations ? 

Consider for a moment what our people have gone through with from the 
first. Three times utterly "scattered and peeled," wasted and ravaged, since 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 5 

our forefathers first took possession of tlie peninsula on wliicli our city is built, 
first known as Macliigonne, from Matchi, bad, and gon, clay, and then, as tlie 
Neck, or Casco-Neck ; twice by tlie red men of the wilderness, and tlie wliite 
savages of Canada, and once by our brotliers of England, wlien the bombard- 
ment over, and the torclies tlirown aside, tliere were left standing of tlie four 
hundred and fourteen buildings which constituted our picturesque, thrifty and 
beautiful village, only here and there the sliattered skeletons of about a liuudred, 
no less than thirteen of whicli, however, managed to outlive all the chances and 
clianges of tempest and fire, from 1770 to ISGG, wlien tliey disappeared forever, 
along witli tlie goodliest part of our new Portland, in tlie flasli and roar of that 
bewildering conflagration, wliicli overswejit all our chief treasure-houses and 
buried most of our houseliold gods in a storm of white ashes — of which a word 
or two just here. 

Within about sixteen hours, the wliole business part of Portland was utterly 
destroyed. Eiglit miles of tlioroughfare closely built, out of the forty-seven 
miles of streets we measure, not including courts and ways, with fifteen hundred 
buildings, covering at tlie lowest computation one liundred and thirty acres, out 
of tlie sixteen hundred and sixty-six acres, comprised within the city boundar- 
ies, of which hardly a fourth part was built over, were laid in ashes. 

Arranged in a line, tliese fifteen hundred buildings would extend sixteen 
miles. Among them were tlie Custom-House, tlie Post-OflUce and U. S. Law 
Courts, all under one roof, built from the celebrated granite of Kennebunk- 
port, said by the geologist and architect sent to us by the Czar of Russia, to be 
the best building material known, and believed to be fire-proof, with its brick 
floors, iron girders and arclies, and costing over $500,000 ; the New City Hall of 
Albert-stone, with ends of pressed brick, a magnificent and stately pile which 
cost us $648,000; our Museum of Natural History, our Athemeum, all our 
public and many of our private libraries, eight churclies, together with no less 
than thirteen large blocks of stores and warehouses. Wood's marble hotel six 
stories high, and Brown's sugar-house, with its outlying warehouses and 
appendages covering whole acres of ground, to say nothing of our law offices, 
not one of wliicli escajied, our newspaper establishments, insurance offices and 
banks, all of wliicli passed away like shadows, in that hurricane of unquench- 
able fire. 

Our loss at the time of the fire, was estimated, or rather under-estimated 
at $10,000,000 

Insurance paid, 3,159,450 

Cash contributions, 600,000 

$3,759,4.50 



Net loss therefore, $6,240,.5.50 

being about oae-fifth of our valuation, and quite of a piece with what has just 
happened to Chicago, for the second time witliin three years, though I find the 
loss estimated to-day, from four to six millions. Seventeen hundred buildings 
were destroyed and one hundred and fifty-seven acres burned. 



6 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

But tlien, it must be remembered that for one hundred and fifty years, or so, 
we had little to brag of except our beautiful women, always ranked with the 
women of Philadelphia, Providence and Baltimore, our fine ships, our lumber- 
ing and our fisheries. We had no manufactories, no cultivated farms worth 
mentioning, to supply our wants, no public buildings to be compared with what 
We have now, no statesmen, no artists, no painters, no poets, no authors, no 
capitalists and no idlers, from the time that Falmouth was "setoff"' or rather 
''•cast off," from old Massachusetts in 1639, up to 1820, when the District of 
Maine, as it was then called, sloughed off altogether in somewhat of a hurry, 
and by a single effort, with a magnanimous disregard of consequences on her 
part, as well as on that of our mother State, and became forthwith one of this 
great Commonwealth of !N"ations, with a territory about as large as all the rest 
of New England ; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hamp- 
shire; containing 31,365 square miles to their 32,316, with water accessible from 
every point along our sea coast, and a frontage on the Atlantic of more than 
four hundred miles. 

And now for Portland — a brief outline sketch of our strange history may 
not be out of place here. 

Originally what is now Portland was called Machigonne by the Indians, then 
Casco-Bay, then the Neck, and then Falmouth by the first settlers, after a 
village standing at the mouth of Fal, a river in Cornwall, England. 

At this time, the territory of Falmouth contained about eighty square miles, 
and included Cape-Elizabeth, Westbrook, the peninsula on which Portland is 
built, then called the Neck, Deering, and some other towns incorporated at long 
intervals. 

In Hubbard's narrative between 1607 and 1677, speaking of Casco-Bay, he 
says "On the south side of it is a small village called Falmouth, all or most of 
it lately destroyed by fire." 

Although the neck, or peninsula on which the city is built, contains but 1,666 
acres, the islands within her jurisdiction furnish 2,931 acres more, pre-eminently 
vai'ied, beautiful and picturesque, with fine, though not very large farms, 
abundant forest growth, capital fishing, and the best of sea-bathing and boating. 
And negotiations are now under way, which are likely to eventuate in the 
annexation of Cape-Elizabeth, or a large part thereof, and much, if not the 
whole of Deering, formerly a part of Westbrook. 

Occupying but portions of territory about three miles in length, and averag- 
ing about a mile in width, although some parts are much wider, all open to the 
sea, with two elevations, Bramhall on the west, one hundred and seventy-five 
and a-half feet, and Munjoy, one hundred and sixty-one feet above tide-water on 
the east, with a high ridge running between them the whole length of the city, 
and covered with handsome bviildings, pul)lic and private, and a magnificent 
growth of trees, over three thousand now, opening like forest avenues into the 
wilderness, and sloping both ways to the water, so that the city drains itself, 
Portland may now be regarded as not only one of the most beautiful, and 
attractive, but as one of the healthiest cities in the world. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 7 

With the Atlantic ocean, on one side, crowded with the islands of Casco Bay; 
and the White Mountains of New Hampshire — the Switzerland of America — 
on the other, so that the air is winnowed all the year through ; with a bound- 
less horizon — a magnificent panorama — visible from every part of the town and 
from almost every house, we may venture to challenge comparison with any 
city, either at home or abroad. 

And then, we have our Marginal-way, nearly five miles in length, and one 
hundred feet in width, running all round the city, one-half in the front, full of 
substantial wharves, where vessels of the largest class may lie in thirty feet of 
water, and the other half on the back side, where forty steamers of four 
hundred feet in length may lie in safety, without interference, Avhile receiving 
or discharging their cargoes ; with one of the largest, deepest and safest harbors 
in the world, never frozen over, and easy of access at all seasons without a pilot ; 
so that a new steamer of the National line, the Canada, of 4276 tons, and draw- 
ing twenty-three feet of water, has just verified the fact, and left us, to return 
hereafter once a month, while the other British steamers are continuing their 
regular weekly and fortnightly trips for six months of the year. With all these 
advantages, what have we to fear? 

Let it be remembered moreover, that we are lying half a day's sail nearer 
to Europe than any other port in the United States, and on the shortest 
possible line through to the Pacific, ready to take toll both ways, when the 
National thoroughfare is opened to Japan, China, and the great Eastern world. 

And here, in addition to what has already been gathered from Parson Smith's 
Diary, beginning in 1719, and ending in 1787; from Willis, our indefatigable, 
minute and conscientious annalist; from the report of Walter Wells, Secretary 
of the Board of Manvifacturers ; from our Portland Directoiy, so faithfully 
issued, year after year, by Mr. Beckett, and the last report from our Board of 
Trade, so comprehensive and satisfactory, compiled by Mr. Eich, the Secretary, 
some of the following items may not be without value. 

A settlement was made at Phipsburg in 1G07 — thirteen years before the Ply- 
mouth Fathers appeared. 

The first meeting house was built in 1740, at the corner of Middle and India 
streets. It was of one story, without seats and uuglazed. After a while, it was 
used for a town-house, and then for a school-house up to 1774, when it was 
carted off. 

The Neck, then called Machigonne, was first occupied in 1032 — when the 
first tree of the dark forest then covering the whole territory of what is now 
Portland, was felled. 

Falmouth, in 1679, had a population of six or seven hundred, while the whole 
of New England contained only 200,000. In 1753, the population of the Neck 
was 720 — of Falmouth 2712, including thirty-one slaves, one of which, by the 
way, was held by Parson Sniith himself. 

Portland was incorporated in 1786, with a population of 2000. In 1870, the 
population had increased to 31,418, and is now nearly 35,000 at least. 

In 1087 one "store" was licensed, the first, and was built on Bay, below Broad 



8 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

street, afterward King, and now India-street. The first brick building was put 
up in 1785, by General Wadsworth, and is now owned and occupied by the Long- 
fellow heirs. The first brick store was built by Capt. N. Deering at the foot of 
Exchange-street in 1795. In 1802, the first brick school-house appeared, when 
thirty-three houses were added to the others. 

In 1750 there wei'e 136 dwelling houses on the Neck and four warehouses ; and 
now, within the last six months we have built seventy dwelling-houses of a 
superior class in general, and several large and substantial warehouses. Yet 
more — 

We furnished altogether about 5000 men for the last war, paid bounties 
amounting to 428,970 dollars, with interest on a much larger amount aftfer the 
State "equalization." 

In 1783, after the peace, we had only two religious societies, the First Parish 
and the Episcopal ; we have now thirty-five. 

In 1787, the Second Congregational church was built, and then, followed the 
Friends, with their brick meeting-house in 1795, at the corner of Federal and 
School, now Pearl-street. 

Our tonnage is over 100,000; imports for '72, 23,000,000, exports 22,000,000 — 
an increase of four millions both on the imports and exports of '71. The Treas- 
ury Report for ' 73 has not been made up. 

We have six National, and two Savings banks, in full operation and exceed- 
ingly prosperous. 

There were 10,447 entries of merchandise in '72; and our sales amounted to 
over $40,000,000. 

To our last valuation of 29,821,012 we may safely add 33 1-3 per cent. — per- 
haps 50 per cent. 

No less than one hundred and nineteen towns, with a population of 278,437, 
are tributary to, and have their business-centre in Portland, with which no 
other market may interfere. Yet more — 

We have, it is said, nearly six hundred and fifty lakes within our territory, 
and some very large and beautiful, such as Moosehead, Chesumcook, Umbagog 
and Sebago, many large, navigable rivers, the Penobscot and Kennebec, from 
200 to 300 miles in length, and the Saco and the Androscoggin traversing large 
districts, and all emptying into the sea, along our coast. 

We have large hotels, and watering-places without number, at our very 
doors, and among our Islands, for sea-bathing, boating and fishing, and moun- 
tain-houses in plenty along the White Mountain regions. 

Sixty-five railroad trains enter and leave the city daily ; and we have daily 
steamers to Boston, half- weekly steamers to New York, weekly and half-weekly 
ocean steamers for six months of the year, with lines touching at many ports 
eastward along the coast of Maine and the Maratime British Provinces. 

We have three daily papers and thirteen weeklies, monthlies and quarterlies. 

The monthly report for Februrary of the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of 
the Treasury Department, has just been issued. From it we learn that the 
summary statement of the intransitu and trans-shipment trade of the United 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 9 

States for that month amounted to $6,851,768, of which Portland furnished 
$5,044,800, or about five-sixths of the entire sum. New York was the second 
port, furnishing $955,045, and Boston third with $379,872. 

Tlie aggregate number of vessels owned in this District on the 30th of June, 
1874, as appears by the official report just made to the Bureau of Statistics by 
the Collector at this port is, 392, with a tonnage of 101,832,69. Of these vessels 
371 are sail and 21 steam ; the tonnage of the former is 93,526,40, and the latter 
8,306,29. Tlie return of seamen for these vessels, as reported in these lists, 
shows an aggregate of 737 officers and 1837 crew, or a total of 2574. 

The Maine-Central railroad received and delivered at Farmington, last year, 
4,644 tons of Portland freight, and 3,535 tons of Boston freight. The Portland 
freight was chiefly imports from Portland. 

Since the foregoing Avas written, a new line of steamers between Portland 
and New York, has been established, to be called the Cromwell-line, and run 
semi-weekly. 

But enough. With a population such as we have, busy, active, industrious, 
enterprizing, thrifty and liberal, again, I ask. What have we to fear? 

To be sure, we blossom with granite and ice; but tlieu — our fruitage is gold. 

J.N. 



10 



POBTLAND ILLUSTEATED. 








(i 



'^ LlbHA.^^ 




EXCHANGE STREET 

BEFORE AXD SIN"CE THE GREAT FIRE. 



Originally, and up to about 1815, we had three principal thoroughfare?, 
running through the city length-wise from one end to the other. These were 




DOWN EXCHANGE STREET, FROM FEDERAL, BEFORE THE GREAT FIKE OF =06. 

then called Fore-street, Middle-street and Back-street, now Congress, and Com- 
mercial. Cumberland, Oxford, Lincoln and Portland-streets have since been 



12 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

opened ; all but Commercial and Cumberland stopping short, or diverging on 
their way through. 

These original thoroughfares were intersected by streets running across the 
city, from avemie to avenue, and sometimes from shore to shore, that is, from 
Fore-street to Back-street and the Cove, with here and there a break. 

Fish-street, now called Exchange-street, and lately extended to Congress, 
originally Back-street, ran from the water-side, where all the wharves are 
built, up to Middle-street, beyond which the spectator is now supposed to be 
standing ; and looking down Exchange-street toward Fore-street, where the first 
brick store was built, in 1795, by Capt. N. Deering. 

All the Insurance-offices, all the Banks, with two or three exceptions, and all 
the auction-business of the city were always confined to Exchange-street — 
the Wall-street of Portland — and from the first, when it was called Fish-street, 
it was not only our chief business mart for the heaviest transactions, but a prin- 
cipal cross thoroughfare. 

Most of the buildings on both sides were of common brick — the commonest 
indeed — never more than three stories high, with here and there stone pilasters 
and lintels, after the Quincy syenite had brought stone-fronts into fashion all 
over the country, vip to the time of the great lire ; unpretending, moderate in 
size, and never more than twenty-eight or thii% feet up to the eaves, with steep 
shingle roofs, and when flat, occasionally covered with tarred paper and gravel 
or sand, but never slated nor tinned, and useless garrets, barely enough to allow 
play for a hoisting-wheel. 

The cellars were shoal, dark, and veiy damp, without drainage and without 
floors, and in short, all of one type and character, plain to ugliness, and with- 
out ornamentation or embelishnient of any kind. 

On the right — before the fire — looking toward the water, may be seen the 
largest frame building to be found in the whole neighborhood, originally, the 
mansion of our late Judge Widgery, it had been greatly enlarged, about forty 
years ago, and converted into a vast furniture warehouse and manufactoiy, for 
"Walter Corey, who occvipied it up to the time of the fire, which swejjt away, 
not only this large, four-story building, but a brick-mill, six stories high in the 
rear, and an adjoining warehouse occupied for the storage of seasoned lumber. 

But after the fire, and while the ruins were still smoking and steaming, a new 
spirit took sudden possession of our property-holders, along this beautiful street, 
and elsewhere in the neighborhood; most of whom had been waiting all their 
lives for the large business-men and bankers, to move first — or at any rate, for 
something to happen ; and straightway they began building for the future, so 
that Portland is now, as all may see by comparing these two views, before and 
after the terrible visitation, at least, fifty years ahead of what she would have 
been otherwise — in all probability. 

We have now along both sides of this attractive and busy thoroughfare, 
large, handsome blocks and warehouses, of granite, iron, Albert-stone, pressed 
brick and common brick, three and four stories high, with mansard roofs, and 
large halls and chambers, adapted to the wants of a manufacturing region. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



13 



These buildings are all, ujion the average, fifty or sixty feet to the eaves, well- 
slated roofs, large, dry and well-lighted cellars, deeiJ drainage, and generally 
water-closets, sinks and Sebago water; and also — a fact worth recording — with a 
reasonable amount of architectural embelishment, heavy cornices, rich windows, 
and pilasters to correspond. Instead of being only thirty-five or forty feet in 
depth, most of these are from eighty to one hundred and twenty, or even 




^^^xaz.-j^oMii'setiSf 



DOWN EXCHANGE STREET, FKOM MIDDLE. 

here and there, one hundred and fifty feet in depth, and they are generally 
finished within, after a superior style, with our richest native woods, black and 
yellow ash, maple and walnut, oiled and varnished. The floors are laid with 
southern pine, the cellars with heavy plank or cemented, and all are now 
occupied for banking-houses, brokers' offices, insurance-offices, auction-rooms, 
book-stores, warehouses and manufactories. 

The ground floor is almost always stuccoed, the ceilings frescoed, with hand- 
some cornices, and the windows of lai'ge plate-glass. 



14 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

But enough may be seen at a glance, to satisfy all that a wonderful improve- 
ment in the style of architecture, and in all the ornamentation, has taken place, 
to say nothing of the great additional conveniences, the greater safety — not a 
single wooden building is there now on the street, nor in the neighborhood — 
and nothing of the widened streets, the park, the fire-alarm, our admirable fire- 
department, an-d the Sebago water, which goes up almost of itself to the man- 
zard roofs and attics of our highest buildings. 

MIDDLE STREET, BEFORE THE FIRE — RUINS AFTER THE FIRE, 

Before the fire, Middle-street was the principal avenue and thoroughfare. 

Forty-nine fiftieths of the jobbing and retail business, and about all of the 
dry-goods and hardware business, after we began to have importers and whole- 
sale dealers — that is about ISOG — were done along this handsome street. 

Many of the retailers were jobbers, but we had no importers imtil 1805 or 6, 
when two or three houses were opened — or rather two or three large chambers, 
for they were all in the second story of our low brick buildings. 

First, we had Gordon and Lewis, and then Atherton, Poor and Cram, both 
between Plum and Union-streets, where that large, handsome, and quite cele- 
brated hotel, seven stories high, the Falmouth, now stands. These were fol- 
lowed after a year or two, by Tappan and Sewall, whose chambers were in 
Haymarket-Row, and soon after by Smith and Oxnard, in Mussey's-Row. 

By this time the hardware dealers began to import for themselves, and job- 
bing became a part of almost every large retail establishment. 

Earlier than this however, by two or three years, McLellan and Bi'own had 
tried importation for awhile on Excliange-street, where Bailey & Noyes' very 
large, handsome book-store, now appears. 

At this period of our town's history, all our brick stores, and they constituted 
perhaps, not more than a fifth part of the whole, were of the type already des- 
cribed, very low-studded, seldom over eight or nine feet on the ground floor, 
dark, narrow, and never more than twenty-eight or perhaps thirty feet up to the 
eaves, when Haymarket-Row was built, by the father of our late annalist, Wil- 
liam Willis, and two or three associates. 

The piers were always of brick, and to this day are the safest — and the 
ugliest — we have to rely upon, after all our improvements, in case of fire, how- 
ever desolating or terrible. 

And it was not until 1820, or thereabouts, that granite pillars, and stone 
fronts for the lower story, as you see them in the plate, were introduced. 
From that day, bricks were abandoned for the piers and pilasters, and as iron had 
not come into use, the style was uniform throughout our business-quarters, 
pillars, lintels, architraves, cornices, caps, and sills being all of a stone we 
had agreed to call granite, on the authority of architects, builders and quarry- 
men, though most of it was gneiss, like the Hallowell, Noi'th Yarmoiith and 
Rockland yield, and much of the remainder, Quiucy stone or syenite, abounding 
in feldspar over-charged with alkali, and undergoing rapid disintegration with 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



15 



changes of weather, till it gets honey-combed like the Tremont-house, of Boston. 

Of this material — valued the more for being so dark that no shadows could 
be seen under the ornaments and projections, we had stores built, — a block on 
Fore-street, by Mr. Joseph Harrod — and all our store fronts for awhile. 

Then we had a Custom-House, built of the Sandy-Bay or Gloucester stone — a 
true granite ; then a block of stores on Middle-street, from the boulders found 




MIDDLE STREET, BEFORE THE GREAT FIRE OF '6C, WITH WOOD'S MARBLE HOTEL AND 
SECONB PARISH CHURCH IN THE FOREGROUND. 

in Concord, N. H., then the Sheepscot stone, a dark syenite, loose and friable, 
much darker indeed than the Quincy, and for that reason still more esteemed, 
till we began our first Exchange with it, and built up to the second story, when 
it was discovered that no dependence could be placed upon the quarry for large 
pillars and architraves, and the work stopped, until the United-States quarry 
was opened, and Kennebunk stone — a true granite — was introduced, after 



16 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

which it was finished and taken off our hands by the general government, for a 
a Post-Office and U. S. Court-House. 

From tliis time, all our store fronts were from tlie U. S. quarry at Kenne- 
bunkport, or from a North- Yarmouth quarry, of wliich two four-storied houses 
on State-street were built ; a rough stone cottage on Congress, of the Kenne- 
bunkport quarry, still standing on Congress-street, and a store on Exchange 
street, of undressed ashler, with trimmed edges, by the writer — and these were 




RUINS OF THE GREAT FIRE — DOWN MIDDLE STREET FROM FREE. 

all the stone buildings we had, or have to this day; and then the Biddeford and 
Blue-IIlU quarries were opened with a lighter colored, but very jmre granite, 
which is now received with great favor in all parts of our country. 

How strange ! Here had we been importing this material from New Hamp- 
shire and Massachusetts, when the foundations of our whole neighborhood 
were granite, gneiss and syenite, marble and talco-slate, and we are now fur- 
nishing public buildings in every part of our country — literally quarrying Post 
Offices, Custom-Houses, Temples, Churches and City-Halls out of these 
neglected foundations, and have enough left along our coast and among our 
islands, to furnish with ease blocks enough for one large city a year, and never 
miss the material from our great subterranean treasuries. 



POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 17 

And so we labored with all these hindrances in our way, until after the fire, 
when we betook ourselves to iron for pillars, arches, lintels, caps and sills, with 
here and there a building, or block of Albert-stone from Nova-Scotia, like the 
City-Hall, the Fal mouth-Hotel, the Hopkins-block, which you may see on your 
right, or of marble, from Vermont, such as the new Post-OfBce, one of the 
handsomest public-buildings to be found anywhere, and the Casco-Bank, of 
Blue-Hill granite, both in full view. The stores along Middle-street however, 
are generally built of pressed-brick, with Albert-stone trimmings, or of common 
brick saved from the fire and covered with mastic, with iron caps and sills, iron 
for the ground floor, and iron for the ornamentation. 

The church seen beyond Wood's Hotel — in the illustration of Middle-street 
before the fire — was that where Dr. Payson used to preach, from the beginning 
to the end of his remarkable career. 




THE FIRE OF '66— RUINS OF EXCHANGE ST. 

2 



OUR NEW PORTLAND 

OUB POETS, PAINTERS, &C, 

A total stranger on approaching Portland by sea, woiild be likely to over-esti- 
mate the population by thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands, for he would 
see about as much of it as he would of New- York, or Boston, or any other large 
city, approaching it by sea, and he would be sure to imagine a vast amount of 
building far away beyond his view, occupying the lower parts of the territory, 
as in other cities. 

Every pinnacle, every dome, every spire, every tall roof, with a lantern or 
cupola, would be a suggestion of something far beyond, whatever he might 
fancy or see in the foreground. 

Yet, as a matter of fact, he would see about all there is of Portland, so that 
if unacquainted with our history, or the census, he would be not a little aston- 
ished to find, that, instead of being a city of one or two hundred thousand in- 
habitants, we have at the most, not over thirty-five thousand. "Not more than 
thirty-five thousand?" he would be likely to say, "with all these churches, 
domes and spires, and all these magnificent public edifices, huge warehouses, 
massive blocks, and private dwellings of a size almost princely, and all these 
large gardens." Nor would he be likely to forego his first imiiressions, on seeing 
our harbor, our dry-docks, and the crowded shipping at our wharves, our mar- 
ginal-way and our railroad system ; our eastern and western promenades, and 
the Deering-woods, which, if he Avere not well acquainted with us, he would be 
sure to regard as a magnificent park, and a part of our belongings. 

But suppose the stranger to be traveling in search of the sublime and pic- 
turesque, the beautiful and the romantic, having heard of Maine and the coast 
of Maine; of the wonders along our Down-East region, of our islands, not 
always three hundred and sixty-five in a group — no less and no more — never 
quite up to the "thousand islands of the St. Lawrence," yet altogether too nu- 
merous to mention. 

And, now for a change, let us suppose our traveler to be somewhat acquaint- 
ed with our history and our doings in the world of literature and art, of our 
authors, our landscape-painters, our poets, and our sculptors — of our celebri- 
ties in a word — for celebrities we have, and not a few who are known abroad, 
even better than they are at home. 

Of course he would have a thousand questions to ask, and of course he must 
be answered. 

With a view then to the gratification of travelers and visitors, having indi- 
vidual tastes and very different views, when they light upon such a community 
as ours, we propose, instead of cataloguing our churches, or grouping our chief 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



19 



public-buildings, till the reader wearies of their sameness, or at least of the 
sameness that must predominate in describing them, to intermix here and 
there a brief sketch of some author, some poet, or some painter or sculptor, 
who has helped to make Portland famous, not only at home, but over sea. 



THE CITY HALL, 



This exceedingly handsome, well-proportioned and conveniently-arranged 
Government-House, was first built some years before the fire, and seemed to 




CITV-HALL. 

our tax-payers and large property-holders, altogether disproportioned to our 
wants. It was built of the Nova-Scotia Albert-stone, and pressed-brick with 
Albert-stone trimmings; and cost without the land, six hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. 

It furnishes most desirable accommodations for the City-government M'ith all 
its offices, for all the State-courts, for the City and County Treasuries, for the 



20 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Public-Library, for tlie Municipal and Probate-Courts, for the Eegistry of Deeds, 
and for the Museum of Natural History, with reception-rooms, and one of the 
largest and best public halls in the country, with twenty-five hundred seats. 

But so great a change has taken place in public opinion, since it has been re- 
built and refurnished, and become so attractive and imposing, that the grum- 
blers have died out, and all our misgivings are forgotten, just as it happened 
years ago, when the Portland Exchange was got under way. 

OUK POETS — HENRY "W. LONGFELLOW. 

Suppose we begin with Longfellow. He was born here ; and you may see 
the house, where he first breathed what Shakespeare breathed, without being 
consumed — the atmosphere of poetry — the uplifting atmosphere of another 
world. 

It is now an old-fashioned, unpretending, three-story brick house, originally 
two stories, until a few years ago — standing on Congress-steeet, between a 
block of stores and the Preble-House, with a darkened front-yard, fifteen or 
twenty feet deep — no more — holding it back from the street, and over-shadowed 
by large trees. Hence it may be that the Washington-House, Cambridge, where 
he has now taken root, engaged his affections — there being a kind of resem- 
blance, both within and without, between the two. 

When Longfellow first began to dribble poetry — or verses rather — he was a 
student of Bowdoin-College, and then something else — a professor, perhaps — or 
tutor — till he went abroad to qualify himself thoroughly in some of our modern 
languages, which he succeeded in doing, till he became an admirable linguist; 
but little did he think, perhaps — and most assuredly little did we think, who 
knew him best, that he would ever become what he undoubtedly is at this mo- 
ment, one of our best prose-writers, and the author of some of the most beauti- 
ful poems in our language, or in any other. 

Gentle, affectionate and loving, Mr. Longfellow is never sublime, never start- 
ling, nor often picturesque; but if we take up "The Skeleton in Armor," — the 
best of all his poems — the "Psalm of Life," or any one of the shorter pieces, he 
is continiially throwing off, we shall hear the rippling of that inward power, so 
strange and yet so unpretending — and feel the breath of that illuminated 
atmospliere, which, when it bursts into song, men have agreed to call poetry. 
Poor fellow! he has been sorely tried through the whole of his earthly pilgrim- 
age; but then, he has gained what otherwise he might never have hoped for, 
the sympathy and commiseration of thousands and tens of thousands, who 
never knew why the sweet mournfulness they so much love, and the gentleness 
and tenderness they feel throbbing in their own hearts, while they read, became 
his leading characteristics. 

His Dante is a grand affair, harmonious, faithful and efficient ; but, having 
lost himself in the translation, the few readers of Dante through translations, 
will never do the translator justice, till they dip into his own sweet, warbling 
manifestations of organic power. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



21 



THE POST-OFFICE. 

Here we have another of the public-buildings which have begun to give us a 
reputation abroad, and our people higher notions of architecture. 

It is built of a Vermont marble, of a remarkable fine, clear grain, at a cost of 
$500,000. Our present post-master, is Ex-Judge Charles W. Goddard, formerly 
Consul to Constantinople — County Attorney — then Judge of our Superior 




POST-OFFICE. 

Court, a man of remarkable industry, perseverance and earnestness in whatever 
he undertakes. 

The ground-floor is occupied for the Post-Office, and the whole second story 
for U. S. Court-rooms and offices. 

Sixty years ago, our Post-Office was in a one-story frame-building, near the 
head of Exchange-street — or Fish-street, as it was then called. 

Then "growing with our growth," it migrated to a frame building on Union 
street, and then after a fire or two, the general government having been pur- 
suaded, through the influence of our townsman and zealous representative, A. 
W. H. Clapp, Esquire, to buy out our interest in that wretched abortion, the 



22 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Portland-ExcTianae, begun, but left uiifiiiislied in the midst of our land-fever; 
and having built it up from the basement with the Kennebunk granite, and at 
the cost mentioned above, made it one of our handsomest and safest buildings, 
and converted it into a Post-OfRce and Custom-House, with large, handsome U. 
S. Court-Rooms, and it so continued up to the time of a fire, which destroyed 
the building, and with it the Natural-History Collection. It was then re-built 
by the United States, and stood till the great fire, when it was so terribly shatter- 
ed that it had to be taken down and built over anew, as you see it now, and of mar- 
ble instead of granite — neither of the two being able to withstand fire, though 
cubes of the U. S. quarry, from Kennebunk-port, a foot square, have been heat- 
ed red-hot in a blacksmith's forge, thrown into the sea, at dead of winter, and 
when taken out, underwent no crumbling nor disintegration — so at least it was 
said by quarry-men and stone-cutters, employed in 1836, by the writer. 

OUR SCULPTORS — PAUL AKERS. 

The first person, man or woman, that ever tried to model anything in the 
shape of a head liere, was Paul Akers, of whom we all heard so much, and ex- 
pected so much, up to the time of his early death. 

Strangely enough, although we had begun to be talked about, both at home 
and abroad, for our landscapes, we never had a portrait-painter worth remem- 
bering. The elder Cole used to paint a good likeness, and the younger fol- 
lowed, but they were both only clever and patient mechanics, not artists. 

And as for sculptors — that was a department — a mystery — altogether be- 
yond our reach. To be sure, Brackett, now of Boston, had tried his hand away 
Down-East, upon some of the heads he was acquainted with, and then after a 
long while, upon the human figure, until he produced the Drowned Mother and 
Babe, life size, and sent them forth for exhibition — a beautiful idea, and full 
of glorious possibilities, but never tried in marble. 

And now for Akers — Paul inkers, with whose doings and personal history, I 
have been familiar from the time he first fell in my way. 

He was born in our immediate neighborhood, at Saccarappa, I believe, about 
six or eight miles from Portland, passed his earlier life in brick-yards and 
lumber-mills, and occasionally labored on his father's little homestead. 

One day, a brother lawyer, from that neighborhood, or perhaps from Saco, 
named Hayes, called on me to ask if I should have any objection to see a young 
man of his acquaintance, who had been trying his hand at a preparation for 
sculpture, by modeling in clay. Of course I should be glad to see the poor fel- 
low, having been accustomed to such applications for many years, until I could 
enumerate fifty or a hundred, perhaps, to whom I had foretold their destiny ; no 
one of the whole having disappointed me at last. Among these were authors, 
poets, painters, actors, preachers, inventors, &c., all of whom, without a single 
exception, having become more or less distinguished. Of course, therefore, 
my opinion was thought worth having, and my predictions prophecy. So at 
least Hackett, and Charlotte Cushman believed, Sully and Chester Harding, 
Codman and Tilton, Ann S. Stephens and Elizabeth Oaksmith, John G. 
Wliittier, Mrs. Sarah Austin, and a score of other writers in prose and poetry. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 23 

At tlie end of an hour the young man appeared, bringing with him a life 
size medallion. Pale, quiet, and rather anxious-looking, the first impression 
I received was quite favorable, and so, after setting the medallion — it was a 
head of the Saviour — in a good light, I began questioning him. 

"Was it a copy of anything he had ever seen, of any hea^l, painting, engrav- 
ing, medallion or cameo ? 

"No — he had never seen such a head anywhere. It was altogether his own 
idea of the Saviour," and either then, or at a subsequent interview, he intimat- 
ed a reverence for the mysteries of Catholicism. 

"Very well," said I — "such being the case, I am not unwilling nor afraid to 
say, persevere ! You have done something quite remarkable here ; and it being 
as you say, the first head you ever modeled, even in profile, and the expression 
being so serious and benign, so tender and thoughtful, you deserve great praise 
and warm encouragement, and have no time to lose. Come with me, and I will 
put you in the way of experimenting to advantage ; and I took him up into a 
large hall over my office, and said. There — I will cut a hole through the i-oof, 
and give you a sky-light worth having, and you may go to Avork at once, and 
we'll soon find something for you to do in the way of busts — did you ever try 
your hand on a bust, "big or little?" 

"Never." 

"Very well — you may begin with me," and he did, and the bust he then made 
is now in my libraiy. The first experiment was a failure ; full of exaggeration 
and heroic ideality. The fact is, the man was a poet — a born poet — and so 
he thought he must serve me up, not so much as he saw me, but as he would 
like to see me, and have me go down to posterity. 

The second was much more successful, though idealized and exaggerated, 
both in size and features. It was, however, ennobled, and on the whole, more 
satisfactory to some of my partial friends than it would have been, if truer. 

The fact is, that no man is the same under different aspects, and never the 
same to those who know him best and those who know him least. They who 
liave seen you under strong excitement, or under the inspiration of some great 
purpose, would never acknowledge a calm thougli faithful copy. Hence carrica- 
ture and exaggeration. 

The great fault of Akers, up to the last of his rather short life, was a de- 
ficiency in that which is indispensable for an artist, a knowledge of anatomy, 
and careful habits of drawing. But he never learned to draw, and for his life, 
could not have represented a hand in crayons. Like Chester Harding, lie 
modeled from life, and the wonders he wrought are only the more wonderful 
for his ignorance of drawing. 

After a few days, I happened up to his room, where lie was laboring over the 
mask of a dead man, with a miserable photograph to help him — one of Wash- 
ington Irving's "inveterate likenesses," and notwithstanding the difficulties, 
which, had he known more of the art, would have appeared insurmountable, 
lie succeeded in producing a very fair bust, and a very good likeness of Mr. 
Bradley, a member of the bar in his neighborhood. Upon my expressing no 



24 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

little astonishment that he should have succeeded so well, under such disheart- 
ening circumstances, he said he knew Mr. Bradley well, and remembered his 
looks while he was arguing a troublesome case — a capital case perhaps — many 
years before. And this undoubtedly was the truth. He had a strong sense of 
individuality and a capital memory of featiures, which in his case were so many 
facts. 

The next move he made, took the shape of an alto relievo, representing the 
head of Charlotte Coudray, after decapitation. It is of cabinet-size, and we 
have christened it anew at his desire, "Lady Jane Grey," and in good sooth, it 
gives her character, mournful, touching and very gentle, as if he had known 
her personally, or had been a witness of the dreadful catastrophe. 

After this he was kept employed on busts, always good likenesses, and gener- 
ally of an elevated character, without being extravagantly idealized. 

Then came his "Benjamin," — life size — the only cast of which is in the 
possession of Ex-Chief-Justice Shepley. 

The conception was beautiful, and the graceful bending of the poor boy over 
the discovered cup, natural enough to be almost captivating, though with the 
sorrow and amazement indicated in his countenance, we could not help sympa- 
thizing. 

Soon after this, he went abroad, and set to work in Rome, with quite a num- 
ber of orders, but still, not enough to satisfy the longings and aspirations of his 
nature ; and so he modeled the "Pearl Diver," a work of uncommon merit and 
remarkable beauty, representing a youth lying at the bottom of the sea, lan- 
guid, graceful, undisturbed, and full of the significant signs of blossoming 
adolesence. 

About this time, it was, that he married a young widow, since well-known 
throughout the land, as Florence Percy, a true poet, of whom, though not a 
native of Portland, as it was in Portland that she first appeared, I shall have 
something to say hereafter. 

After the "Pearl Diver," we heard nothing of Mr. Akers, until the story of 
his last illness, and early death, fell upon the hearts of those who knew and 
loved him here, like a church-yard dew. 

Had he lived a few years longer, he would have built up a reputation for him- 
self and his beloved country, well worth coveting. He had that in him — a far- 
seeing and far-reaching spirit, a lofty, hallowed imagination, and such a solemn 
sense of what man is made for, that he must have been lastingly distinguished. 

He has left a younger brother, Charles — who chooses to be called Karl, from 
whom good portraitures and good busts may be expected, if nothing better and 
loftier. Some of his last are very promising, to say the least of them, and are 
quite equal to the earlier efforts of his gifted brother. 

THE CUSTOM-nOUSE. 

One of the most beautiful buildings to be seen anywhere, either at home or 
abroad. The material is a very light-colored granite, from Concord, N. H., — 
resembling the finest marble. It cost about $500,000 and has been thoroughly 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



25 



finished, and furnished within and without. It is believed to he fire-proof, and 
is enriched with bronze and marble stair-ways and fire-places, and magnificent 
chandeliers, and stuccoed ceilings, and our costliest native woods. Our present 
collector is Ex-Governor Israel Washburn, jr., one of the most energetic and 
indefatigable of all our public servants. 

Our first Custom-House was a pine-shed ; the next but a little better, though 
used for a store-house. The next, a Doric-Temple, very much after the fashion 
of a Pierpont-stove, and built of that ugliest of all known material, the Sandy- 




^^^ft*y//-<iM^ww^"^ 



CUSTOM-HOUSE. 



Bay gi-anite ; then it appeared in the handsome, granite pile, with the Post- 
Oflice on Middle-street, up to the time of the fire in '66; but this which we have 
now rebuilt, is really something to boast of — a commercial Treasury and Palace, 
— worthy of the sincerest admiration. 

OUR AECUITECTS. 

_ The two Fassets, Francis H., and Edward F.— father and son — with Hard- 
ing, are all we have to depend on among our townsmen, chiefly, for architectu- 
ral embellishment. 

For a time, we had Mr. Alexander, now of Xew-York, who planned the villa 
of John B. Brown, Esquire — one of the handsomest private buildings we have 



26 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

to boast of, and a large number of dwelling-houses and cottages, and store- 
blocks, wbich had a marvelous effect on our taste and preferences. Mr. 
Alexander Avas a true artist, not a mere builder, and his works testify to his 
most essential qualifications. 

Since he left us, we have the two Fassets, and Mr. Harding, who have done 
much to beautify our streets, and settle our notions upon this subject. 

And here I am reminded of a little incident, which happened soon after my 
return from abroad. Something had led me, I know not how, unless it was my 
habit of scribbling so much for the newspapers, to speak disparagingly of our 
largest public-buildings, and churches, and of our blundering barbarism. 

And so, one day, a builder — a common house-carpenter, with a good reputa- 
tion, and no knowledge of drawing, Avho used to intermix all the orders, and 
misapply all the characteristics and embellishments, called on me, and the fol- 
lowing conversation ensued : 

"Mr. N. — I see that you understand artchitect,^^ said he, "and I want to have 
a little chat with you." 

He was rather a shrewd, sensible man, but wholly ignorant of the art, being 
at best, only a good stair-builder. He seemed astonished beyond measure, when 
I told him that the orders of architecture in every street, and I might say in 
every building, public or jjrivate, were all intermixed, and the first principles of 
the science violated. 

We had the Mathew Cobb-House, the Commodore Preble-House, the Canal 
Bank and the Cumberland Bank, to be sure, some with pilasters and archi- 
traves, and others with pediments, designed, it was said, by an Italian, about 
1808 — and the old Custom-House, and High-street Church, and the old City 
Hall, as so many exceptions; but apart from these, nothing that would bear 
commendation. He seemed to be satisfied, at last, and while he lived, I saw no 
more of his Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Gothic combinations. 

And now — just look about you, and see if we have not atoned in a measure 
for our sluggishness and backwardness in a past age. 

MARKET-SQUARE, 

Here stands our old Town-House, or City-Hall, our theatre, and the United 
States-Hotel, and not a few of our handsomest buildings. But the illustration 
will speak for itself. 

There has been a seeming determination lately manifested by our people, to 
have the old City-Hall, or Town-House, out of the way, and a handsome square 
opened for the soldiers' monument, now under consideration, and a fountain 
worth having. 

It cannot be denied that, on the whole, we have no better opening for such 
an enterprize, nor any portion of the city which could be turned to a better ac- 
count, for the purpose mentioned. 

Surrounded by large, handsome buildings, blocks of stores, on both sides, 
with the greatly enlarged United-States Hotel in the rear, the theatre, the 
Treble-House, on one side, and the First-Parish Chiirch and City-Government 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED, 



27 



House in full view, no wonder that so many of our people are zealous and busy 
on the subject. This old City-Hall, by the way, built under the superintend- 
ence of our late townsman, Charles Q. Clapp, Esquire, comes nearer a correct 
sample of architecture; and yet it is only a sort of dwarf Ionic, the pillars being 
only six or seven diameters instead of eight or nine, and the entablature alto- 
gether heavy enough for the Roman Doric, of which we had a pretty fair speci- 
men in the Portico of our High-street (Church, with which Mr. Clapp, who had 
a great deal of relish for improvements of this kind, had something to do, and 
another in our old Custom-House of the Sandy-Bay granite, already mentioned, 




wakd's opera house. 



MARKET SQUARE. 



OLD CITY HALL. 



a Roman Doric. With these few exceptions — and one other — our old Ionic 
Post-Office and Custom-House, of the Kennebunk granite, we had no building 
of any settled order of architecture, while at the head of one of our principal 
streets, there stood and still stands, a portico, intended for Ionic, the pillars of 
which are from ten to twelve diameters, instead of being eight or nine, as re- 
quired by the order. 

But, such intermixture of orders we find everywhere, and there is a water- 
gate on the Thames, by Inigo Jones, where you may find three or four distinct 
orders, one above another. Of course the basement of any building, triumphal 
arch, or gate-way, would require a heavier order than the upper parts ; but 
then there are limits to this. 



28 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

OtTR LANDSCAPE PAINTERS — CHARLES CODMAN. 

The landscape painters, bom here, or making their first appearance here, 
have given to Portland the highest reputation. 

The first — Beckett — of whom a few words hereafter, began to do something 
in Dr. Coe's apothecary-shop, while yet an apprentice, and, if I am not mis- 
taken, several years before Codman appeared, as a painter of signs, banners 
and fire-buckets. 

Codman, however, may well be regarded as the pioneer in this department of 
art, his pictures now commanding from five to ten times the price he ever 
thought of asking in the day of his glory. 

Of him, therefore, we may well venture to speak at large ; his manner being so 
stamped with individuality, so natural and fresh, and so imlike that of other 
painters, and yet so truthful, varied and rich, as to set him, after it was too 
late, among the finest landscape-painters of the age. 

But something of the man's history and personal appearance may not be un- 
welcome. Of his life and labors before he came to Portland, we know little or 
nothing ; but that he once lived in Roxbury, or Dorchester, Massachusetts, we 
know from a little circumstance mentioned hereafter. 

But here, from the painting of his first picture, worth remembering — up to 
the time of his death, when his reputation was established, at least here and 
throughout portions of New-England, we — that is — ourself, knew him well 
and watched him faithfully. 

He was a small man, about five feet four, with large, dark eyes, a pleasant 
countenance, and great simplicity of manner. Our acquaintance began in this 
way : 

Soon after I returned from over-sea, and my townsmen had given up the idea 
of mobbing me, and hunting me back to Baltimore — beautiful Baltimore — I 
happened to be dining at the Elm-Tavern, kept by Mr. Appleton. 

■\Vhile at the table, my attention was attracted by the singular appearance of 
what seemed to be tapestry, or wall-painting, not fresco, of a new style. It 
was a forest, or rather the opening to a forest, full of large trees reaching from 
the floor to the ceiling, and so admirable, so finely characterized, that when I 
left the table ard examined them, I was not a little astonished to find that they 
were painted in oil-colors, but with a freedom and spirit seldom found in the 
finest fresco. 

Upon further enquiry, I was told by the landlord that they were painted by 
— "one Charles Codman, a sign-painter, on Middle-street." 

Being somewhat of an enthusiast, and having made up my mind to stay in 
Portland, mob or no mob, though I had only come on a visit to my widowed 
mother and twin sister, I hurried down to Codman's work-shop — or shall we 
say studio? — and found the little man up to his ears in the trumpery he had 
been collecting for many a year, bows and arrows and stuffed birds, and war- 
clubs, and tattered pictures, and curiosities of all kinds. 

I told him what I thought of his capital trees — or tapestry, but he did not 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED, 29 

seem to tliink much of them, nor of me, nor it may be, of my opinion, though I 
soon cured him of that, by engaging a picture to be done after the same off- 
hand, free, slcetchy style, without high finish — or indeed any finish. I had 
been captivated — charmed — by the free-handling, sprightliness, and brave 
drawing of his trees, and I wanted nothing better to begin with. 

He undertook the job, and after laboring on it, longer, I had reason to be- 
lieve, than he had ever labored on a picture before, he called me in, and I felt 
obliged to say at once that I wouldn't have it for a fire-board — he had spoiled 
it by overdoing — completely spoiled it, in his anxiety to please a customer who 
had been familiar with galleries abroad. 

"Put this picture away," said I, "but don't destroy it. By and by, after you 
have done what I foresee you will do, it will be worth studying afresh." 

That he felt rather down in the mouth, I could see, and so to encourage him 
and justify the opinion I had expressed of his latent power, I ordered another, 
and promised, if he would give me a sketch, instead of a labored picture, I 
would secure him other orders, which by the way I did, without waiting for 
the demonstration. 

After awhile, he sent for me, and I got a picture, worthy of high praise, 
which I have still in my possession, and preserve, mainly for the purpose of 
showing how and where he first broke forth as a landscape-painter. 

"Man alive," said I — "how on earth did you produce these catching lights in 
the foliage?" 

After some little hesitation, he answered — "well, if you must know, I went 
over all the leafing with a inn ! 

I laughed, of course — for what else could I do? The picture was mine — I 
had engaged it, in my own language, "hit or miss," and what should interfere 
with my laughing? 

"Why, Codman," said I, pointing to a passage entirely overdone, "I should 
think you had been a painter or tea-trays of clock-faces." 

Then it was his turn to laugh. "Jess so," said he, "you've hit the nail on 
the head this time. I served my time with Willard, the clock-maker, and used 
to paint faces for him — clock-faces — and landscapes on glass, and there ac- 
quired the facility you think so much of." From this time he had a much 
better opinion of my judgment; and I secured orders from the late Simon 
Greenleaf, and the late Thomas A. Deblois, and some others at once, and the 
pictures he painted for them are all in existence now, I believe. 

From this day, Codman kept busy, and having about given up his fire-bucket 
business and sign-painting, and confined himself to banners and landscapes, 
old coins and carricatures, began to throw off marine-views, mountain-scenery, 
and summer-landscapes, and "Pleasant-Coves," and "Diamond-Coves," by the 
half-dozen, being always sure of a customer, and his reputation was such, that 
orders began to come in from other places, up to the day of his death, until 
there are few collections, in our city or neighborhood without a Codman. 

Since he passed away, we have had Beckett, and Tiltou, and Brown — Harry 



30 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



Brown — of whom I shall have something to say, and somethingto the purpose 
I hope, when the time comes, and five or six more. 



LIXCOLN-PABK AND THE BISHOP'S MANSIOX. 

Though young and but a baby park at the best, this charming enclosure, in 
the very heart of our town, and just where the flames raged with the most un- 
controllable fury, on account of the wooden buildings crowded together, for 




LINCOLN PAKK, WITH THE BISHOP'S MANSION IN THE DISTANCE, 

kindling-wood, promises to be, with its handsome fountain and clean cut, 
winding paths and beautiful trees — when they have got more growth, one of 
our most alluring features. 

The Bishop, now away on a visit to the Pope, whence he may return perhaps, 
with a Cardinal's hat, may well be reckoned among the most amiable, zealous and 
persevering of all our Catholic clergy, and this fine building is but one of many 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 31 

he has managed to build up in our midst, from the contributions of his people. 
He has given us a nunnery, a school and a large cathedral, and we had before, 
a catholic-church, with all the appropriate appendages. 

The mansion you see, though built of brick, is called the Bishop's palace. 
And why not ? Kensington-Palace, where the Duke of Kent lived and Queen 
Victoria was born, is built of brick, and of a very inferior brick. 

OUK PROSE "WEITEKS 

are numberless, and, almost without exception, above what may be called the 
average. 

Without regard to merit, or chronological order, brief sketches, outline 
sketches at the most, will be introduced here and there along our way. For 
many of the items hereafter produced, we shall be indebted to that most care- 
fully-prepared book, lately published by Mr. Joseph Griffin, and entitled the 
"Press of Maine." A labor of love, and the result probably of great experi- 
ence as a printer, of uncomnion patience, continued for many years, the facts 
here accumulated, and judiciously condensed, are just such as no ordinary col- 
lector or mere book-maker would know how to appreciate. Perhaps we may as 
well begin with 

SAMUEL. FKEEMAJT. 

an old-fashioned magistrate and judge, of the revolutionary type, and actually 
bearing a great resemblance to Washington himself, both in features and bear- 
ing — courteous, dignified and reserved. 

He was the editor of "Smith's Journal," a treasury of household incidents 
and historical facts, relating to Falmouth and Portland, published in 1S21. 

The Rev. Thomas Smith, who was settled over the First-Parish Church, of 
Portland, in 1727, had begun to keep this journal, in 1719, and continued to 
keep it up to 1788, though he lived till 1795, and died at the age of ninety-three. 

The Rev. Samuel Deane, was associated with Parson Smith, 1764, and after 
his death became the sole pastor until 1809, when the Rev. Ichabod INichols 
was ordained, so that we have what is called "Smith & Deane's Journal," to 
strengthen our recollections. 

Mr. Freeman was the author of three valuable treatises, the "Massachusetts 
Town-Officer," the "Clerk's Assistant," and "Probate Directory;" all works of 
authority, and notwithstanding the changes in our law, hardly yet superseded, 
though out of print. 

THE REV. ICHABOD NICHOLS 

may be reckoned among our earliest and best writers. 

From this amiable and most excellent man, we have a volume on "Natural 
Theology," another on "Natural History and Hours with the Evangelists," two 
volumes, four hundred pages each, with addresses, discourses, &c., &c., — all 
works of uncommon worth, although eminently unpi'etending, and unostenta- 
tious, like their author. 

No man among us, certainly no preacher, among the many we have had, and 



32 PORTLAND ILLUSTEATEJ). 

still have, with a name to live, as we trust, ever labored more dilligently and 
faithfully than this warm-hearted, christian gentleman and accomplished 
scholar — though a Unitarian. 

Following the work on Natural History, by Dr, Nichols, though after a long 
interval, we had from 

ISAAC KAY, M. D., 

"Conversations on the Animal Economy," "Lectures on Botany," both quite 
remarkable for clearness and precision of language, and special adaptation to 
the wants of our school-teachers, &c. 

When Dr. Eay first came to Portland, he entered upon the practice of his 
profession, but having more leisure than he wanted, he began lecturing on bot- 
any, in the old Quaker Meeting-House, corner of School and Federal-streets, 
and met with decided encouragement, being himself a sincere lover of the 
science, and familiar with all the kindred sciences. 

After the publication of the two Avorks mentioned, he left Portland for East- 
port, where he confined himself to his profession, until translated to Augusta, 
where he took charge of our Insane-Asylum, which he made so famous that he 
was beguiled into leaving us for another and larger institution in Rhode-Island, 
which under his admirable management acquired the highest reputation. 

Meanwhile, not having enough to occupy him over sixteen hours a day, 
he prepared and published his quiet work on medical jiirisprudence, which of 
itself, were enough to justify all that can be said of his unconquerable spirit of 
enquiry, of his conscientiousness, and manly independence. To the legal as to 
the medical profession, this work, lately passed through a second and perhaps 
a third edition, is of inestimable worth. No phase of insanity is over-looked, 
or left unsettled, so far as the large experience which the author in the treat- 
ment of the insane had verified, or investigated. 

What he may be doing now, we are unable to say ; but this much we know, 
that he cannot be idle, and that he has within him, aspirations that cannot be 
quenched; and therefore it is, that we shall be disappointed if we do not find 
his comparative leisure in Philadelphia, coined into ingots of wisdom, if not 
of gold. 

HISTORIC AL INCIDENTS — WELL WORTH MENTIONING. 

In 1658, Massachusetts, our mother-in-law, took it into her head to insist on 
exclusive jurisdiction over about forty thousand acres of the Gorges' grant, in- 
cluding Portland, Cape-Elizabeth, Westbrook and Falmouth, and setting her 
seal upon the tract, christened Lhe whole Falmouth. 

In August, 1676 — the whole territory was laid waste by the Indians, and all 
the inhabitants either butchered or "captivated," as our forefathers called the 
capturing of their adversaries. 

And again in 1689, after the villages had begun to re-appear and flourish anew, 
and the population had greatly increased, another Indian war broke out, and 

ain Falmouth was ravaged with fire and sword ; thirteen of her foremost men 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 33 

fell into an ambush of Indians and French, on Munjoy's Ilill, and were hewed 
to pieces like Agag before Samuel, and the settlement was broken up anew. 

And just here too, was perpetrated one of the acts of that dreadful tragedy, of 
which we have a faithful record by that old-fashioned pilgrim, Cotton Mather, in 
his account of the "Salem Witchcraft." 

In 1G79, the Eev. George Burroughs, a graduate of Harvard-College, came 
here to live, and was a settled preacher, and a meeting-house was built for him, 
on the point where the Portland Company's works are now established. 

After a while, though evidently ''acceptable" to his parish, Mr. Burroughs 
went back to Salem, and there in process of time, was convicted of witchcraft 
and hung; the testimony against him being first, that he held out a heavy 
musket — King's arms probably — at arm's length, with his middle finger in the 
barrel, if I do not mistake ; and secondly, that he was supposed to have deal- 
ings with a black-man, and once appeared suddenly where he was wholly 
unexpected, among people who had gone into the woods before him ; after 
berries, perhaps. And so, the poor fellow was put to death, according to law. 

In 1813, a sea-fight took place between the Boxer, a British sloop-of-war, 
fourteen guns, and our Enterprize, another sloop-of-war, almost within sight 
of our people. Both of the commanders, Blythe and Burroughs, were killed, 
and lay side by side in the same dark, low cabin — where I saw them. The 
colors of the Boxer had been nailed to the mast, so that when the battle was 
over, she could not strike her ensign, and suffered accordingly. We lost one 
man killed and thirteen wounded, of whom three died. The British had four- 
teen wounded, but how many killed was never known, though her decks were 
swept, from her bow aft, over and over again, and she was hulled several times 
with eighteen-pound shot, by one of which her gallant commander, Blythe, 
was literally cut in two. 

But one of the most remarkable events in our home history, was the re-cap- 
ture of our Revenue-Cutter, the Caleb Cushing. This was in 1863. 

Capt. C. W. Eeade, of the Rebel bark, Tacony, entered Portland harbor at 
midnight, in a fishing-schooner, and cut out the Caleb Cushing. 

As soon as she was missed from her anchorage, almost under the guns of 
Fort Gorges and Fort Preble — a daring and most hazardous enterprize, it must 
be acknowledged — oiir whole population took fire, and no time was lost in 
obtaining thirty men from Fort Preble, and over a hundred volunteers, with 
pilots, gunners and naval officers, and plenty of ammunition, who went on board 
the Xew York steamer Chesapeake, and started for the daring pirate. She was 
found becalmed near the Green-islands. But Captain Reade was unM'illing to 
await the issue, and so, after a slight hesitation, he set fire to the Caleb Cusli- 
ing, and took to his boats, and after a few minutes, the fire reached her 
magazine, and she blew up with a tremendous explosion, almost within rifle 
shot of our whole population. Her crew, twenty-three in all, were pursued, 
captured, and lodged in Fort Preble. 

To our Mayor, Captain Jacob McLellan, and Jedediah Jewett, our Collector 
at the time, belongs the credit of this clever, dangerous, and almost fool- 

3 



34 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

hardy enterprize, since a single broadside, or a single heavy shot, might have 
sent the Chesapeake to the bottom, or swept her decks of nobody knows how 
many fathers of families, wholly inexperienced, and wholly imprepared for 
such a catastrophe. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged, that the under- 
taking was quite of a piece with some of our doings in the harbor of Tripoli, 
where Somers and Wadsworth offered themselves up for the rescue of the Phil- 
adelphia, by fire ; and so it seems to have been thought by the Secretary of the 
Treasury, who complimented the leaders of this achievment, for their spirit and 
gallantry. 

mechanics' hall. 

This very handsome and classical building, at the corner of Congress and 
Casco-streets, well deserves the highest commendation. The front is of a fine- 
grained, smoothly-chiselled, light-colored granite, the sides of i^ressed-brick. It 
cost ninety thousand dollars, and was built in 1856. 

Its position on Congress-street, our widest thoroughfare, just where it cannot 
be overlooked nor passed by, without engaging the attention of a stranger, was 
exceedingly well-chosen, and may be regarded as a standing certificate of 
talent, taste and foresight in our mechanics, who have made great advances 
within the last fifteen or twenty years. 

It contains a large and very pleasant lectiu'e-room, where a great variety of 
unobjectionable entertainments are always under way. 

It has a library of more than four thousand volumes, carefully selected, and 
in every way adapted to the wants of the mechanics' association, which came 
together at first, and is noAV peri)etuated, for charitable purposes toAvard the 
craft. 

The architectural embellishments, though modest and unpretending, and the 
whole appearance of the building, both within and without, testify in unmis- 
takable terms to the substantial and i^rcdominant characteristics of our builders 
and artisans, whether as masons, iilasterers, carpenters, stone-cutters, or 
finishers. To say all in a word, there are few such buildings to be found 
anywhere, devoted to the brotherhood of mechanics, and the wholesome effect 
of that undertaking on our workmen, from the lowest to the highest, has been 
acknowledged more and more every year, by our large property-holders, and 
leading business-men, from the day it was finished. 

Of this institution, L. F. Pingree is President, and Geo, C. Littlefield, Vice- 
President, both earnest, active, conscientious men, faithful alike to their 
associates and to the public at large. 

OUR CLEEGY. 

That Portland has been greatly favored in her spiritual teachers, from the 
days of her earliest history, cannot be denied. 

Always honest and zealous, and sometimes greatly distinguished, her clergy 
have always upheld the reputation of our community and our commonwealth. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



35 



Up from the day of Mi-. Burroughs, the wizard, to those of Mr. Smith, Mr. 
Kellogg (father of the autlior), Dr. Payson, Dr. Nichols, Dr. Dwight, Dr. Vail, 
Dr. Taylor, Dr. Shailer, Dr. Carruthcrs, Mr. Hayden, Mr. Stebbius, Mr. Streeter, 




36 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Mr. Bowles, Mr. Wliitman, Mr. Kidgway, Mr. Frotliingham, Mr. Burgess, Dr. 
Chickering, Bishop Bacon and Bisliop Neely, and half a hundred more, Port- 
land has never been without a strong and hearty representation of all the 
different denominations that abound here. 

Of the whole, perhaps, no one has been more readily, or more lastingly 
knoAvn, wherever Knox, Calvin, or Jonathan Edwards bear sway, or where- 
ever they have been regarded as types of Christian charity, than Dr. Edward 
Payson. 

That he was a great and good man, though it must now be acknowledged, 
rather intolerant, will not be denied, since, long after shutting his peAV- 
door in the face of a universalist preacher, because he saAV the '"blood of souls 
on his garments," he underwent a material change in his manner of speech, if 
not in his opinion. Great good was accomplished by his ministry, and though 
much bitterness prevailed, and a lamentable controversy raged for a long while 
between the Avorshippers of Dr. Payson and the believers in Dr. Nichols and 
Mr. Kellogg, that bitterness died out in progress of time, and the circumstances 
which led to the controversy have been forgiven, and it is to be hoped, for- 
gotten by all parties. 

Dr. Carruthers, one of our ablest theologians and preachers, noAV occupies the 
desk of Avhat many regarded as the translated church of Dr. Payson — called 
the "Payson Memorial Church," on Congress-street; and they who are inclined 
to belicA'e in at least, a modified form of Apostolic succession, Avill not be sup- 
posed to question the legitimacy of the title, Avhereby the Dr. is claimed to 
represent, not only Dr. Payson's church, but Dr. Payson himself. 

Before Dr. Carruthers, Ave had Dr. Vail and Dr. Tyler, to feed the fires, not 
of persecution, but of a faithful, zealous and patient ministering in the holy 
office, with a growing charity toward all men, while contending foot to foot, 
and inch by inch, Avith Avhat they believed to be heresy and error. In a Avord, 
we have reason to be thankful, and perhaps jjroiul, if pride may be thought 
Avholesome or alloAvable in such a case, for the favor these men have met Avith, 
in the discharge of their duties. God's ambassadors they all are, or claim to 
be, and all have been largely prospered and gi'eatly enriched Avith "seals of 
their ministry," and "croAvns of rejoicing." 

OUK NEAVSPAPERS AXD PERIODICALS. 

We have been greatly favored for the last thirty or forty years in all that 
belongs to our ncAvspapers and periodicals. 

Both editors and sub-editors, both coadjutors and locals, have been, Avith two 
or three exceptions, far above the average. Most of them are, and have been 
for long years, Avell educated, conscientious, liberal-minded, cautious men, and 
not a fcAV had been laAvyers in regular practice, before they undertook the busi- 
ness of editorship. In a AVord, take them together, if we had a population of a 
hundred thousand or so, Ave might Avel! afford to keep Avhat we have, and only 
add to their numbers, instead of changing. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



37 



REFORM-SCHOOL. 

This liberal institution, now under the guardianship of Mr. Eben Weutworth, 
principal, has not been many years in operation, but long enough to satisfy our 
peo2>le that indeed, and in truth, it deserves all that has been said in its favor; 
fuliilling our highest expectations, and saving in society hundreds of youth, 
wlio, but for this home, and the home-discipline they are su1)jected to, might- 
have become and would have probably become, the scourge of our neighbor- 
hood, or tenants of our State-Prison. 

The building itself, as you see it, is something of the Elizabeth style, substan- 





BEFORM SCUOOL. 

tial, convenient, and picturesque, without being obtrusive or showy. The 
grounds are extensive and well-managed, and their productiveness, under 
the judicious labor of the boys, quite encouraging and satisfactory. 

It stands about two miles in a direct line, from the heart of our city, and nuiy 
be regarded as one of the most attractive features of the landscape — or pano- 
rama — that spreads from horizon to horizon, with the White-Mountains and 
the open-sea in full view, and numberless farms and small villages clustering 
along toward the North and Wes:,, while Cape-Elizabeth, Ligonia, Ferry-Vil- 



09 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

lage, Kniglitville, Turner's Island, the Rolling-Mills, the Gas-Works, and some 
of our largest Railways lie Avithin a half cannon-shot. 

OUR POETS — N. P. WILLIS. 

One of our most beautiful prose-writers, beyond all question, gi-aceful, 
sprightly and captivating, especially to the newspaper-world, hut after all, more 
distinguished for his poetical contributions to our periodical literature. 

Never a good story-teller, in print, and often running into extravagances, where, 
venturing largely, and most anxious to satisfy our expectations, he may be 
reckoned among the very best of our periodical contributors and essayists. For 
example — in one of his stories, purporting to be seasoned with personal adven- 
tures, he hides the hero, or at least, one of the characters, in the long gi-ass of 
some river-side, stark-naked, while certain ladies are Avandering and chatting 
a little way off, and along the opposite bank. 

At another time, and in another story, he rigs out his hero in the dress of a 
chamber-maid, and actually employs him in the service of two traveling ladies, 
who, it seems, were well known, and who, of course, were furiously indignant. 

But after all, these are but trifles, and only go to show that, however charm- 
ing he might be as a letter-writer, and newspaper-gossip, he was not the man 
for a lengthened story, with plot, character and incidents. 

Though born here, it is not known that he ever tried his hand at poetry — or 
prose — until long after his father, Nathaniel Willis, removed to Boston, and he 
himself, had entered Yale College, where he wrote some of his very best poems, 
and the beautiful illustrations of Scripture, with which the religious Avorld are 
so familiar. 

My knowledge of Mr. Willis and our acquaintance, which continued many 
years, began in this way. 

While in charge of the Yankee, about 1828, my attention was attracted day 
after day, by flashes of uncommon significance and beauty, in some Boston 
papers. Seldom longer than a dozen lines or so, the verses I saw were always 
delicate, original and peculiar. 

Upon enquiry, after having said my say about them in tlie Yankee, I learned 
from the author himself, that his name was Willis — but Willis of where? 
Willis of what family? Nobody could tell me, and nobody seemed to know. 

After awhile, we met in Boston, and he opened up to me a plan he had of 
going abroad, and working his passage through half Europe, on foot. 

Not being acquainted with any but his native language, I advised him to get 
familiar with at least, one other, French, before he ventured among people 
whom he could not understand, and who could not understand him, under any 
emergency ; urging that, otherwise, he would have to associate with his own 
countrymen, or with some other English-speaking travelers, and that, after all, 
he was about entering upon a system of exchange, or barter, where the more he 
took with him, the more he would bring back. 

Soon after this, instead of going abroad, he entered upon a literary life, 
conducting first a Souvenir, and then a Monthly, at Boston, which he made 



PORTLAND ILLUSTBATED. 39 

sufficiently attractive, though it was far from being profitable, either to the 
proprietors or to himself. 

His next move was toward the New- York Mirror, with which he was after- 
ward connected, and of which, after a change of title, he became co-editor, 
with Morris. 

And here began that career, which has made him quite famous. He was first 
sent on a trip along our North-western frontier, by General Morris, with only 
fifty dollars in his pocket, furnished by Mon-is, on trial. Then, after a time, 
and his letters came to be generally copied throughout the land, he went abroad, 
where his acquaintance with Miss Porter, Lady Blessington — and Captain 
Marryatt — made him specially notorious, both over sea and at home. 

Then came a volume of spirited sketches, with a large correspondence, and 
then he returned a married man, having secured a beautiful English girl, and 
settled down to his work with Morris, on the Mirror. 

From this time, up to the day of his untimely death, he occupied a position, 
which nobody thought of questioning. The Home-Journal became a leading 
authority on all questions of social interest, of etiquette and fashionable life, 
and so continues to this day. 

Meanwhile he brought forth his best prose writings, and two or three volumes 
of poetry — lost his English wife, and re-married to a second lovely and most 
attractive woman — a neice of the Hon. Moses Grinnell. 

Wliile abroad, Mr. Willis had for a traveling companion, Brantz Mayer, of 
Baltimore, and they were so much alike in stature, personal appearance, and 
general bearing, that they were supposed to be brothers — at least, both being 
full six feet, Avell-proportioued, with brown hair, large, handsome eyes, and 
the best of manners — though Willis, between ourselves, was rather more of a 
coxcomb than Mayer; both being high-bred and gentlemanly, but Willis having 
a touch of daintiness and fastidiousness, on most occasions, and sometimes a 
kind of supercilioiisness, rather cockneyish, so that after his return from 
England, he would answer your questions with a sort of drawling intonation, 
and offer his oldest friends a finger to shake — in a word, he was for showing 
off all that he had learned of Lady Blessington's associates, and of their lordling 
manners. 

But nevertheless, it cannot be denied that Mr. N. P. Willis was one of our 
best writers, both in prose and poetry, and taken "by and large," a man for 
his brethren and his country to be proud of. 

SARAH PAYSOX WILLIS. 

Better known all over our country, and elsewhere, as Fanny Fern. She was 
a sister of N. P. Willis, and born here about 1811. Her father was Nathaniel 
Willis, who, after establishing the Eastern Argus, a capital paper from th(> first, 
began to have his misgivings and forebodings under the earnest and faithful 
expostulations of Dr. Payson, and tried, but in vain, to change the Argus into a 
religious paper, leaving the great Democratic party without a leader. This 



40 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

would never do. The Democrats and Federalists — or Kepublicans and Fed- 
eralists — were battling for life, like men overboard, after a shipwreck. 

And so Mr. Willis left Portland forever, went to Boston, and there estab- 
lished the first religious pajier in our country. This was in 1816. 

Fanny Fern's first book, "Fern Leaves," appeared in 1853, and had a sale of 
ninety thousand copies, according to Mr. Griffin. 

Her next volume, entitled Little Ferns for Fanny's Little Friends, was 
published in 1853, and had a very large sale. 

In May, 1854, the second series of Fern Leaves a!i>peared, and then Euth 
Hall and Eose Clark — after which, up to her death, in 1872, she was a regular 
contributor to the New- York Ledger. 

Sprightly, sarcastic, playful, and quite unlike all other writers in our lan- 
guage, she held on her way to the last, with an ever-growing reputation, 
altogether equal to that of her brother, and more captivating, with more 
originality and more archness, mingled with a larger share of downright com- 
mon sense. 

OUK MUSICIANS. 

Our people have always had a strong relish for music, but no performers, 
until within the last thirty or forty years. 

Never without one or more good vocalists, like John or Jack Woodman, as he 
was called, of the Old, or First Parish, we were always looking out for some- 
thing better, and for genuine co-operation. 

At last, we have begun to to get up associations, and have persevered until 
the following are firmly established, and the musical taste and aptitude of our 
peoi^le are no longer questioned as to what we are. We have oratorios, operas, 
concerts, attractive church-choirs, glee-clubs, &c., &c., all the year I'ound. 

We have the "Haydn Association," with Herman Kotzschmar, a highly 
gifted and thoroughly educated artist, for conductor; the "Eossini Club," an 
association of women — ladies if you wish — thirty-five in number, who have 
regular meetings at Eossini Hall, in the City-Building; the "Kreutzer Club," 
W. H. Dennett, conductor, a fine musician, a capital teacher, and a real enthu- 
siast, having been thoroughly trained in Italy. The "Arion Club," another 
association of thirty-seven, all men, who are specially given to choruses from 
the C4erman ; Samuel Thurston, conductor, whose rich voice and feeling 
intonations are not likely to be forgotten or undervalued in this generation ; the 
"Portland Band," J. Cole, conductor, another enthusiast in his way, and well 
qualified for the sitution he fills, and the "Musical Club," newly organized, 
and made up altogether of young Avomen, so that on the whole, Portland would 
seem to be doing her part in establishing a musical reputation for this part of 
our country. And then we have Chandler's Band, conducted by Chandler 
himself, an association of singular merit, and thoroughly trained. 

Nor must we forget our young townsman, Paine, whose Oratorio of St. 
Peter, the first and only Oratorio ever jaroduced in America, has received such 
universal commendation. Not having heard it, nor seen the score, we have to 
depend upon others for the opinion expressed. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



41 



And then, there is Miss Carey, not a native of Portland, to be sure, but of 
the immediate neighborhood, since notwitlistanding her long absence in Italy, 
she continues to identify herself with our finest musical celebrities. 

And just now, while engaged upon this paragraph relating to music and to our 
musical achievements, my attention has been attracted by a published letter from 
quite a number of our Portland leaders in society, to Mr. Will H. Stockbridge, 
a Portland boy, now in London, urging him to accept a complimentary concert, 
on his return to us. Of him too, we have high expectations. 

V. S. MARINE HOSPITAL,. 

The grounds upon which this beautiful building stands, cost fifteen thousand 
dollars, but how much the building itself may have cost, cannot be ascertained 




U. S. MARINE IIOSl'ITAL. 

without application to head-quarters at Washington. It was undertaken about 
twenty years ago, and successive appropriations have been made from time to 
time, until its final completion, as it now stands. 

Beyond all question, it is one of the best proportioned, and most beautiful of 
our public buildings; and occupying as it does a conspicuous elevation, over- 
looking our whole city, and Casco-Bay, with the islands for which we are so 
celebrated, and the open sea, along the whole sweep of the horizon. 



42 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

OUR SCULPTORS — FRANKLIX SIMMOXDS. 

This young man, already so widely known and so highly appreciated, was 
born but the other day at Auburn, a village about thirty miles from Portland, 
if I do not mistake. 

Of his early life I know little or nothing, and as the man himself is a long 
way off, at Eome, Italy, we must confine ourselves to what we personally know 
of him until we meet again. 

My first acquaintance with young Simmonds occurred about 1860, and greatly 
resembled, in many particulars, my first meeting with Akers. 

One day, the Eev. Mr. Boswortli, one of our ablest and best men, called on 
me, and asked my company to visit a young friend of his, who had taken to 
modelling in clay, and seemed bewitched with the charms of sculpture. 

On arriving at his room, we found one bust, and one only, under-way. Not 
having seen the original, I could not of course judge of the resemblance; but 
so stamped with individuality, and so strongly indicated were all the features 
and characteristics of somebody, that I felt sure, and said as much, absolutely 
sure of the likeness. 

I saw that the artist had experience in drawing, and was evidently favored 
l)y nature in that department ; but his drawing was hard and obtrusive — and 
the head a sort of clay photograph, without a line or feature out of place, or 
exaggerated or diminished. For a first essay in portraiture, as I understood it, 
lie had been quite successful ; but then there Avere faults to be corrected, and 
propensities to be overcome, and I told him what they were, according to my 
notions. 

In the first place, the lines were more like those of an engraver, with a rigid 
material — they wanted softness and generalizing. In the next place, the hair, 
that most difficult of all things to represent in marble, where it cannot be 
massed, but requires to be lightened and loosened, was curled and twisted like 
so much molasses-candy. 

He bore my criticisms like a christian — a christian martyr, I might saj^ — and 
lost no time in changing what he acknowledged to be amiss, though I cautioned 
him against any change of style that his own deliberate connections did not 
encourage and justify. 

"You must depend altogether upon yourself," said I—" altogether. Take 
what hints you may from others, or what suggestions, but only so far as they 
correspond with your individual convictions. You are to answer — and only 
you — to yourself, and to the world, for your ultimate conclusious, whoever may 
counsel or approve, or disapprove. In other words, if you are ever to be any- 
body, you must be yourself, and not another. Admire as you may, and rever- 
ence as you may, the counsellors of large experience who beset your path. 
Hear them patiently, treat them well, by listening, and then do your best ac- 
cording to your own perceptions ; and after awhile, what there is in you will 
manifest itself, and you will have your reward," etc., &c. 

After this, he labored on busts for a long while — among others upon one of 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 43 

myself now in the Portland-Institute and Public-Library — and it cannot be de- 
nied that he rapidly improved and grew into a habit of generalization, much to 
be desired in portraiture, if one would not photograph his finest faces. 

And tlien he got married, and visited Italy, with several orders, to encourage 
him, and there, by himself, and for the first time, ventured upon full lengths, 
portraitures and allegorical figures and statuary. 

The first of his achievements which indicated the out-fiOW of his native pow- 
ers, ripened and strengthened by severe study and great enthusiasm, was an ideal 
statue of Roger Williams, for the city of Providence — an admirable embodiment 
of the Puritan character, and in every way remarkable for simplicity, strength 
and naturalness, without parade, or flourish, or pretention. 

The next, was a remarkably fine subject and the conception was worthy of the 
subject. It was the Mother of Moses with a child in her lap, life-size. The atti- 
tude, the sweet mournful expression of that Hebrew face, the drapery and all 
the accompanying appendages are of such a character, so decidedly original, so 
charged with deep-seated, unappeasable sorrow, that, if he should never do any- 
thing more, it would fix the reputation of Simmonds iorever, as a poet and 
sculptor. 

Meanwhile, he turned off a number of busts, which, if they are equal to one of 
Story, the sculptor, musL be more than satisfying to the originals and their friends. 

And now we find him busy on Soldiers' Monuments, one for Providence, and 
another for Portland — which last is a very fine, spirited composition, although 
he proposes to furnish another at his leisure. 

Meanwhile, having lost his wife in Italy, he has returned to Rome, and will 
there abide until the orders already under way are accomplished to his satisfac- 
tion. A bust of the Hon. John B. Brown, which he completed just before his 
late return to Italy, is very fine and very just. 

But happen what may, this young man has already done enough to show that 
he belongs in the foremost rank of sculptors, living or dead. 

OUR MEDICAL, ASSOCIATIOXS. 

Aboiit all the medical systems now recognized, except the Thompsonian, or 
screw-auger system, with its lobelia for every ailment, like the blue-pills of 
Abernethy, and the yellow mustard-seed of the school that appeared — and dis- 
appeared — about 1823 — are represented here. 

We have the Allopathic, the Homeopathic, the Eclectic, the hydropathic and 
the vegetarian, all under way, and the two first-mentioned occupying a bound- 
less field, very jealous of each other, very uncharitable, but always in full blast. 

So far is the antipathy carried, that the Homeopathics, who count among 
their brethren some of the ablest, best-educated, and clearest-headed men 
among us, many of the foremost having been Allopaths of large practice, until 
their convictions and experience obliged them to go through a second course of 
experiments in homeopathy — so far is this antipathy carried — that they arc 
excluded from the Cumberland Medical-Association, the members of which 
being forbidden to associate with them in practice, to hold consultations with 



44 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

them ; and they are not even allowed to intermeddle with the management of 
the Maine General-Hospital, nor to have so much as a ward assigned them, 
though many homeopathists are among the liberal contributors to this enter- 
prize. 

And this, while the Allopaths, following the Homeopaths, have about given 
up their bleeding, purging, blistering and emetics, and dimiiushed their princi- 
pal medicines almost infinitesimally. 

Nevertheless — and notwithstanding this much to be lamented jealousj', we 
have reason to be proud of our medical men as a body ; our surgeons are distin- 
guished, our physicians of acknowledged skill and worth, and even our surgeon- 
dentists, as they have begun to be called, are distinguished, and deservedly so; 
for we have some of the best now living. 

Of our "Cumberland County Medical Society," Dr. Thomas A. Foster is 
President, Dr. Charles O. Files, Secretary, and Dr. H. N. Small, Treasurer — 
all of Portland. 

Of our "Maine Medical Association," Dr. A. P. Snow, of Winthrop, is Presi- 
dent, Dr. Charles O. Hunt, of Portland, Secretary. 

OUB PORTLAND DISPENSARY, 

seems to be misistering most efficiently to the w^ants of the poor. The officers 
and physicians receive no pay. Medicines and medical attendance are furnished 
gratuitiously. 

Dr. N. A. Hersom, F. A. Stanley, and C. O. Files, are the attending physi- 
cians, and Drs. I. T. Dana and S. H. Weeks, consulting physicians. 

BOARD OF TRADE. 

Never was a more timely, never a more effectual organization, than that of 
our leading business-men, out of which issued the "Board of Trade." 

Already it has brought us acquainted with ourselves, and sent our representa- 
tives, East, West, North and South, for consultation with all the business- 
centers of our country. And the result is just what we hoped for, but even the 
most sanguine hardly expected, till years had gone by. 

Of this admirable Institution, T. C. Hersey, is President, A. K. Shurtleff, 
Israel Washburn, jr., (our Collector and late Governor), and H. I. Libby, Vice- 
Presidents, with a board of Directors, who would be a credit to any commercial 
metropolis. Connected with this, we have the 

merchants' exchange. 

The nucleus of what we shall have, and must have, by-and-by, so that our 
active business-men, our lawyers, merchants and shippers, will have a place to 
go to, in all weathers, for bargaining and consultation. 

Of this organization, the Directors are A. K. Shurtleff, Chas. H. Milliken, 
Wm. W. Thomas, H. M. Payson, and M. N. Kich — all substantial men of large 
and varied experience, who may be depended upon to carry out the enterprize 
they have in contemplation, as soon as they are allowed to get their breath, after 



46 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

the pressure of last September, when the whole country seemed struck with 
paralysis for a time, but is now steadily recovering. Such periodical attacks 
are always to be expected in the business-world — but they are never lasting. 
The tide ebbs and flows. 

MAINE GENERAL-HOSPITAI.. 

This institution, one of many, of which some account will be found in this 
little book, established in love to that small part of the great human family of 
sufferers, in whom we have a special interest, occupies what were known as the 
"Arsenal-Grounds," on Bramhall's Hill, of two and a-half acres. 

More than fifty thousand dollars have been raised by private subscription 
among ourselves in tbe city, while the State has contributed twenty thousand 
dollars, conditionally, together with these "Arsenal-Grounds." These conditions 
having been more than fulfilled, the buildings are now, so near completion as to 
make it sure that, before long, we shall have a magnifiaent charity in full opera- 
tion to be thankful for. 

Hon. John B. Brown, President, Hon. J. T. McCobb, Treasurer, and F. H. 
Gerrish, Esquire, Secretary. 

The central-building is five stories with a mansard-roof; and there are, as you 
see, four pavillions, with an amphitheatre, a boiler-house and kitchen. 

From every window there is a wide, rich and beautiful prospect of the whole 
surrounding country; and from every part, either a view of tlie sea and the 
Cove, or a view of the White-Mountains, of Xew-Hampshire, sixty miles away^ 
with all the intervening villages and elevations, woods and waters, and being 
always open to the sea-breezes on one side, and to the winnowed atmosphere of 
our Switzerland, upon the other, a store-house of health and vitality, the sick and 
languishing, may be sure of nature's best and surest help at all seasons. 

OUR KOLI.ING-MILLS. 

This large and flourishing establishment, is situated on the Cape Elizabeth side 
of Vaughan's bridge, accessible by Fore-river, and connected with the railways of 
the city by a bridge. In 1872, they turned out fourteen thousand tons of rails, 
and in 1873, fourteen thousand, seven hundred and fort5'-four tons, and employed 
two hundred men. Francis McDonald, President, Geo. E. B. Jackson, Treasurer. 

THE FOKEST-CITY SUGAR-REFINERY. 

This building, arranged for the manufacture of crushed, powdered and granulated 
sugars, which have a high character in all our markets, is two hundred and 
seventy-five feet long by fifty feet wide, and five stories high, with a superficial 
area therefore of sixty-eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty feet. H. I. 
Libby, President, T. C. Hersey, Treasurer and Business-Manager. 

OUR SAFE DEPOSIT-VAULTS, 

may well be regarded with admiration. Uniting all improvements up to this 
hour, it is beyond all question, absolutely fire and burgular-proof, with watch- 



PQRTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



47 



men and all other arrangments to secure depositors, and a pleasant room, at 97 
Exchange-street. 

OUB DKY-DOCK. 

This company incorporated in ISGS, has two fine docks, on the plan of Simp- 
son's patent. The larger is four hundred and twenty-five feet long, and one 
hundred feet wide, with a superficial area therefore of forty- two thousand, four 
hundred square feet, while the depth of water on the gate-sill, at ordinary high 
tide, is twenty-three feet, the largest draught of all the dry-docks in our country. 




I)l>.\ DOCK 

It will probably accommodate anything afloat, under the tonnage or draught of the 
Great Eastern. 

The smaller is one hundred and seventy-five feet long by eighty feet wide, 
having a superficial area of fourteen thousand feet, with a depth of twelve feet on 
the gate-sill, at ordinary high tide. The company hold twenty-five acres of land 
fronting the harbor on the Cape Elizabeth side. 

OUK LAWYERS — THE CUMBERLAND-BAK ASSOCIATION. 

For the last fifty or sixty j'ears, the Portland-Bar has been greatly distin. 
guished. 

From the days of Stephen W. Longfellow, father of the poet ; Prentice Mellen, 
father of Grenville, another poet, Daniel Davis, Nicholas Emery, Ezekiel 
"Whitman, Simon Greenleaf, Charles S. Davie, William Pitt Preble, our judges 
from the Cumberland Bar, and our lawyers left in practice, have stood high for 
legal attainments and liberal practice. Nor have they fallen ofE to this day, the 
older members bearing aloft the un-smirched banner of their earlier predecessors, 
and the younger, standing in their stirups, with lance in rest, and eye on the 
opening future. 



48 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Of this association, the Hon. Joseph Howard, late a judge, of our Superior- 
Court, is President, and Nathan Webb, Esquire (U. S. District Attorney), 
Vice-President, Thomas McGiven, Secretary and Treasurer. 

OF THE GREENLEAF LAW-LIBKARY, 

Judge Howard is also President, and Byron D. Verrill, Clerk and Treasurer. Of 
its two thousand five hundred volumes, one thousand two hundred and 
sixty-nine were the gift of Mrs. Simon Greenleaf, whose husband, one of 
the foremost lawyers of his day, was for many long years a leading member of 
the Cumberland-Bar, residing in Portland, from about 1814, until he took the 
chair in Harvard-College, as Royal Professor, where he continued up to the 
time of his death. 

GRAXD ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, 

Is made up of the honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of the United- 
States, army and navy. The members aggregate over half a million. 

Post Boswoth, No, 2, whose head-quarters are at Mechanics'-Hall, has been, 
it is said, "of essential service in carrying out the objects of the order in our 
midst." We can readily believe this, for the members are tried men, whole- 
hearted men, and they know what help means, and what charity means, for 
the widow and the fatherless, who have the strongest hold upon their country ; 
God prosper them ! 

H. P. lugalls. Commander, Caleb N. Lang, Senior Vice Commander, Chas. 
A. Robinson, Junior Vice Commander, Nahum A. Hersom. Surgeon, George 
W. Bicknell, Chaplain. 

And tlioi we have in addition to all these charities — 

THE PORTLAND ARMY AJTD NAVY UNIOX, 

organized in 1866. Head-quarters corner of Congress and Brown-streets. 
A. W. Bradbury, President, William E. Dennison, John O. Pace, Geo. E. 
Brown, Vice-Presidents, Thomas J, Little, Treasurer, 

A large military library and reading-room is connected with the head-quar- 
ters, and as they are in the habit of raising funds by lectures and concerts, 
eminently sviccessf ul thus far, there is good reason to hope for a large charitable 
fund for the helpless and the needy in due time. They have done much 
hitherto, but will do more of course, hereafter. 

OUR PROSE-WRITERS — REV. DR. CIIICKERIXG. 

Pastor of the High-street church for some twenty years, and now general 
agent for the National Temperance League, wrote and published while here, The 
Hill-side-Church, a series of essays for young men, a sermon before the Maine 
Missionary Society, in 1846, a Temperance Address, in 1854, a tract, "What is it 
to believe in Christ," and sundry funeral discourses — all eminently character- 
istic of the man himself, hearty, earnest, solemn and appreciative — in short, the 
every day preaching of a good man, thoroughly convinced, and therefore thor- 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



49 



oiighly convincing, both in the pulpit and out. N"o man ever labored more 
faithfully, and few have been more successful in the ministry, and we may 
hope that he has not wholly thrown aside the pen, while engaged in what he 
and others may regard as a higher duty. 



NATHANIEL DEERING. 



Wlien Mr. Deering first chipped the shell, he was the acknowledged humorist 
of Portland; being full of pleasantry and playfulness, and never sarcastic, 
never malicious nor spiteful, as wits are always inclined to be. 

Mr. Deering published Carabasset, a play, in 1830, embodying and verifying 




LOOKING DOWN MIDDLE STREET, FROM MARKET SQUARE. 

certain traditions of our early predecessors, the red-men of our Xorthern 
wilderness. 

Also, Bozzaris, a tragedy of considerable merit. 

And lots of ballads and verses, which have heretofore appeared only in the 
newspapers, but well deserve to be collected. 

His early prose-writings, though but occasional, were very pleasant reading, 
and greatly enjoyed by his contemporaries, forty or fifty years ago. 

DOWN MIDDLE-STEEET FROM MARKET-SQUARE. 

On casting your eye over this plate, you will observe in the left a lin- 



50 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

gering specimen of the style our stores — even the handsomest and best — 
were built in before the fire. The first in the left-hand block survived the fire. 
Beyond this there is a succession of larger and much higher warehouses, some 
of brick, some covered with mastic, and some of the Nova-Scotia Albert-stone, 
some of Connecticut free-stone, as far along Middle-street as the eye can sweep. 

And now if we turn our attention to the right, we shall see first another low- 
studded memento of the fire, and then a block of high, four-story warehouses, 
built within a few years, with here and there one of less attractiveness, i-unning 
down to Union-street. 

And then comes the Falmouth-House, built by J. B. Brown, our wealthiest, 
and upon the whole perhaps most enterprising of all our business-men, and 
we have scores who would be the life of any place worth living in. 

The Falmouth is six stories high, the front of Albert-stone, the sides of 
pressed-brick, occupying a whole square, at the corner of Union and Middle- 
streets, with two hundred and forty rooms, a long row of stores underneath, 
elevator and all that the most exacting and fastidious would require, whether 
journeying for business or pleasure. 

Beyond this magnificient pile comes the St. Julian, another four-storied 
hotel, of large and justifiable pretensions, occupying the ground of another 
block — or row of stores, rather above the average before the fire, and running 
away down Plum-street. 

OUR EDITORS — J.\:ME.S BROOKS, PHINEAS BARXES, WM. PITT FESSEXDEN, 
OURSELF, AC., &C., &C. 

One day, in the year 1827 or 8, while I was not only editing, but actually 
writing upon the average, nine-tenths of the Yankee, a young man entered my 
ofiice — a law-oflice by the way, where I Avrote ray books, and earned on — that's 
the very phrase needed here — carried on the Yankee, and gave lessons in small- 
sword and boxing, the sabre-exercise and cut and thrust — and signified a wish 
to enter with me as a student. He was fresh from Waterville-College, and pro- 
posed to take a school and study law at the same time. He was tall, with a 
dark, foreign look, large eyes, and a shy, though gentlemanly bearing, and not 
much over twenty, I should say. This was James Brooks. 

I consented, and he began with me at once, and I must say, studied with 
uncommon diligence, though with no such steadfast, passionate enthusiasm, as 
a great lawyer must have had, to begin with. 

He soon became exceedingly popular, was wheedled into politics, and became 
a red-hot whig, with abolition proclivities, of the most unspairing and unrelent- 
ing type. At best, though opposed to slavery, as it was not, I was only a 
colonizationist, and heartily opposed to the Cxarisonian creed, universal and 
immediate emancipation. Here Brooks and I parted company for life. 

He was soon provided with a school, and lived with me while going through 
his law studies, much like a younger brother, so that I had the best opportun- 
ites for understanding his real character. I found him earnest, manly, but so 
silent, so given to mystery and concealment, that his best friends knew nothing 



PORTLAND ILLUSTBATED. 51 

of his past life or history, until a sister appeared among us, and a younger brother 
Erastus, now carrying on the Express, at New York ; nor even then were we — 
his best friends — who were laboring for him night and day, permitted to know 
anything about his family, though his father was a sea-captain here, and he 
himself, a native-born Portlander. 

One day on opening my letter-box, I found a well-written communication 
for the Yankee — well-written, according to Blair and Allison, and the Soph- 
omores of our day, but altogether too classical, too highly finished, for every- 
day use, and I told him so, on discovering as I soon did, that he was the author. 

"Wliereupon he underwent a striking and immediate change, and began, like 
his prototype — ourself — to talk on paper. This saved him, for after reading a 
few paragraphs — no essays — no speeches, he was offered a position, that of 
editor, from the first, I should say, of the Portland Advertiser ; and as I now 
find, in consequence of my personal solicitation — according to Mr. Griffin. 

Being ambitious and enterprizing, with a burning desire to distinguish him- 
self in some new way, he persuaded the proprietors to send him to Washington, 
as a correspondent and reporter — a reporter though — not of speeches, but of 
incidents and facts, with characteristic illustrations. He was the first Wash- 
ington correspondent ever heard of. The letters he wrote while so acting, had 
a wonderful run through all the newspapers of our county, worth mentioning, 
excepting those of the other parish. "You see we are all in teai's,V said a 
pewholder to a man setting a little way off; "why don't we see tears in your 
eyes?" "O, I belong to another parish," said the man. Just so, is it ever in 
high political or religious excitement, we all belong to another parish, when 
called upon to give judgment upon the doings of one, who, not agreeing with 
ourself, is therefore heterodox. 

The next movement of Mr. Brooks toward notoriety, was in the character of 
a special correspondent of the Advertiser from over sea, whither he went in 
1835, and it must be acknowledged, added greatly to his reputation, as a news- 
paper correspondent, quick to see, and quick to delineate such peculiarites, and 
characteristics, as he gathered on his long tramp, afoot and alone, while work- 
ing his passage through a small portion of Europe. 

Then, after laboring from 1830 to 1841 without effect, to obtain a seat in our 
National Congress, he left Portland for New York, where meanwhile, the 
Express had been triumphantly launched, as a penny paper, the first that ever 
appeared on this side of the water. 

Not long after this, he married a neice of President Harrison — a very supe- 
rior woman, a widow with one child and quite a large plantation ; after which, 
he changed his views about slavery, then got into Congress, and at last — poor 
fellow — undertaking a trip round the world, which cost him his life at the time 
of the Credit-Mobilier scandal. 

And here a little incident occurs to my recollection, which may not be 
wholly out of place, though intended only for illustration of character. Not 
long after the earliest issue of the Express, a series of Yankee papers appeared 
in it, something after the manner and style of Capt. Jack Downing. These 



52 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

were writen by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens— or most of them, at any rate, appearing 
under the name of Samuel Slick— if I remember aright, and altogether 
superior to Judge Halliburton's blundering carricatures of the Native Yankee, 
with its provincial and stage-English. These were attributed to Mr. Brooks, 
and the name of Mrs. Stephens was never mentioned in connection with them, 
to my knowledge. 

One day, being at a dinner given by Col. Webb, of the Courier and Enquirer, 
at Delmonico's, where Mr. Verplanck and some other notables were gathered 
together, about 1834 — a toast was offered to the author of the Sleigh-ride, a 
funny affair, which had appeared in the Yankee long before. All eyes were 
turned upon me, and I found myself obliged to say something in self-defence. To 
be sure, I had written a story under that very title, which was published in the 
octavo edition of the translated Yankee ; but I soon found they were talking 
about quite another affair. It was Johnny Beadle's Courtship. "O," said 
somebody at my elbow, "that was written by Brooks" — and I found that he had 
the credit of all our best Yankee stories, not a line of which he had ever written, 
to my knowledge. 

The fact was that "Johnny Beadle's Courtship" was written by Capt. 
McClintock, of Fort-Preble. At the time, when I found it in my letter-box, and 
had run my eye over it, I gave a young portrait-painter, named Appleton, 
then occupying my back-office, credit for the story — and he assented — and 
then I published it in the Yankee, with lots of emendations, and in my judg- 
ment then and now — of improvements, with considerable additions. All this. 
Captain McClintock, a most worthy gentleman, long afterward complained, and 
threatened to re-publish the story, as it was originally written — but never did ; so 
that Johnny Beadle's Courtship stands now as it first appeared in the Yankee. 
So much for newspaper-reputation, and so much for Mr. James Brooks, a martyr 
to disaijpointed ambition, a craving for political power, and a thirst for the for- 
bidden fruit our tallest men are always reaching for, hit or miss. 

To Mr. Brooks, Mr. Phineas Barnes succeeded in 1841. A graduate of 
Bowdoin-College, formerly a Professor of Greek and Latin at Waterville, and 
a lawyer of large promise and fine talent, and a writer of great precision, 
strength and clearness ; qualities of which he gave unquestionable evidence after 
his return to the bar, and dying but the other day in full practice. 

After Mr. Barnes, came Mr. Henry Carter, also a lawyer, smart, sharp and 
laborious, and then Mr. Blaine, Speaker of the House, and candidate for the 
Presidential chair — a very able man, a shrewd politician, and a good writer, of 
large editorial experience — and then other changes followed, until Mr. God- 
frey, and then Mr. Pullen, who is now in charge, both lawyers, took hold of 
the same paper and helped it forward and up, week by week. 

Intermediately however, and for a short time only, Mr. William Willis, our 
Portland annalist and historian, took charge of the Editorial department, and 
of course — being also a lawyer, and who is not, among our editorial fraternity? 
— added much to the reputation of the paper. 

Nor must we forget our friend, William Pitt Fessenden — a lawyer of course — 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



53 



then a Senator of the United States, then Secretary of the Treasury, and then 
a case of untimely death, in the very meridian of his strength. How long he 
had charge of the Advertiser, I am not able to say. I only know that he was 
never a sprightly, babbling, newspaper-gossip, though a conscientious and sub- 
stantial writer on the great questions of the day, and that, even to the last, 
though he greatly improved, as a ready writei-, while occupying the editorial 
chair, the business of writing, day after day, grew more and more irksome and 
wearing, till he threw it aside forever, and returned to his profession, where he 




WHITE HEAD. SEE PAGE 55. 

stood in the very foremost rank for years, as you will find by our Maine Eeports, 
until his translation to the U. S. Senate. 

And here a little anecdote may be introduced, for further illustration. Mr. 
F. had been in the habit of consulting me from the time of entering upon the 
profession, upon every contemplated movement of importance, up to the day 
of his undertaking this editorship. Once, for example, he came to say that he 
was not earning the salt for his porridge, though married, and to one of our 
finest women, with large and wealthy associations. A lawyer had just died in 



54 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Bridgton, and he was unable to decide about going up there and taking his 
place. 

"Take it by all means," said I, " and lose no time. There you will be sure 
to enter into a small practice, at least, and in time work your way into what 
will bring you back here. And there you will have time for study without 
feeling disheartened. Study withoitt practice I look upon as rather worse than 
practice without study." He went. 

After a long while, he came to see me again, saying that he had an idea of try- 
ing his luck at Bangor, where an opening ha 1 just been made by the death of 
somebody else. " Go, by all means," said I; and he Avent forthwith, and of 
course prospered. 

So, when he came to consult me about the editorship. He had no taste for 
the business — he never could write with facility, he said. Whereupon I 
laughed at him, and then told him why, not only why he could not write with 
facility, but why the laugh had come in just there. The truth was that Fes- 
senden was never given to trifling, to gossip, or to pleasantry. He was too 
much in earnest, too serious and weighty, and indulged too largely in sarcasm, 
and a sort of gentlemanly vituperation. Again, he labored too much on his 
articles — reviewing them as Codman went over his foliage with a pin. "Give 
yourself no time" for such things, said I "write hurriedly — learn to talk on 
paper, and you will soon find it easy enough." And he did. 

And now for Oukself, who must not be altogether overlooked. 

After editing the Yankee for five hundred dollars a year, i>ayable in books, I 
wrote for every paper in Portland, more or less, from 1829 or 30 to about 1874, 
and always without pay or reward, or the hope of reward. Nor did this quite 
satisfy me, fori turned off lots of magazine-stories, novels, essays, &c., &c., 
besides editing the New-England Galaxy, of Boston, and writing volumniously 
for the Brother Jonathan, of New Tork, the Courier and Enquirer, of New 
York, the New York Mirror, The Sun, the Ladies' Companion, and some othei 
papers, as a regular correspondent. 

Yesterday, August 25th, I was eighty-one — having reached my eighty-second 
birthday, though people persist in misunderstanding, or misrepresenting the 
fact, just as if a man's first birthday goes for nothing, or as Rip Van Winkle 
would say, "don't count" ; and I am quite sure that I have written and pub- 
lished in the course of my long life, abroad and at home, what would make at 
least eighty-one good sized volumes — such as they are. 

In addition to the foregoing, we have among our ablest editors, whom we are 
unable to characterize just now, as they deserve, on account of our limited 
allowance of elbow-room, Francis O. J. Smith, formerly of the Argus, Col. 
John M. Adams, originally associate editor with Mr. John A. Poor, of the 
State of Maine, but now sole editor of the Argus, Mr. Richardson, of the Ad- 
vertiser, an evening paper, U. S. District Attorney Talbot, his co-adjutor, Mr. 
Lord of the Christian Mirror, Mr, Colesworthy, and Mr. Eiwell, of the Tran- 
script, and twenty or thirty more whom we should like to honor, if it were 
possible, under the circumstances. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



00 



Now, all these gentlemen, it will be seen, with two exceptions, Mr. Lord of the 
Mirror, and Mr. Colesworthy, were lawyers, educated lawyers, and thoroughly 
trained, if they could only find customers. No other profession seems to have 
contributed so largely to the department of newspaper literature, as that of the 
bar. Of those mentioned here, only two or three have been guilty of a book. The 
truth is that lawyers govern the country. They make the laws ; they interpret 
the laws ; they administer the laws, and they hold about all the offices worth 
having, either at home or abroad, with here and there an exception. But 
■why ? — why ? 

WmXE-UEAD. 

Among the wonders and strange, peculiar beauties which abound in our 
neighborhood, and along our coast, there is no one perhaps more generally 




talked about than Wliite-Head, a huge bluff towering up from the bottom of 
the sea, v/ith perpendicular walls, as you find them conscientiously repre- 
sented in the cut. 

On the outward verge, near the water, you may see — without much effort of 
the imagination — a right royal head, with what may well pass for the " likeness 
of a kingly crown," with something of the Assyrian, or Babylonian appen- 
dages. 

Compared with the "Old man of the Mountain," about which we have all 
been hearing for the last fifty years, our White-Head is really life-like, though 
it must be contemplated from a particular point, or it may be mistaken for the 
head of a lion, or perhaps for no head at all. Yet there it is, to speak for itself, 
and there it must remain till the " wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." 



56 - PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

The rough tumbling sea, the boundless view from the elevated bluff, and the 
dark waves flashing in the moonlight or sunshine, or flinging their oceans of 
tumultuous, phosporescent fire along the base, make White- Head, or rather 
Cushing's Island, formerly Bangs's Island, one of the most attractive points 
along our whole eastern coast. 

Here we have the Ottawa-House, one of the finest establishments for sea- 
bathing, boating, fishing or junketing, to be found anywhere. 

It is about four miles from the city, and is in almost hourly communication 
with it by steamers, neat, handsome and trustworthy. 

THE OTTAWA-HOrSE 

had its origin we are told, and believe, among our brethren of the Canadas, 
At any rate, scores of Canadians and other jjrovincials of that huge empire 
which is vast spreading itself from sea to sea, and from shore to shore, may be 
found summering themselves, after the pleasantcst fashion at the Ottawa-House 
every year; and cottages are going up, and farms growing into shape and 
promise, at a most encouraging rate of progress. But come and see for your- 
self, and after having "done" the Island, the largest in Casco Bay, just push 
out into deep water, a few miles from shore, and "bob for whales," if your 
taste lies that way, or, if you are more easily satisfied, for halibut, sword-fish, 
haddock and cod. 

OUR LANDSCAPE PAINTERS — JOHX ROLLIN TILTOIf. 

This remarkable man, whose pictures are now commanding extravagant 
prices over sea, and obtaining the most extravagant praise from the British Art 
Journals, came to Portland about the year 1844, at the age of nineteen or there- 
abouts. 

He was introduced to me by the late John A. Poor, a man who has left no 
equal in our land for his knowledge of rail-ways and his rail-way possibilities ; 
a man moreover, to whom Portland owes a debt she can never pay, though she 
may at least acknowledge it hereafter, by raising a monument to his memory ; 
a man who sacrificed himself and twenty years of his life, in uplifting Portland 
to the position she now occupies. 

Mr. Poor had invited me down to the Grand-Trunk Depot, then called the 
Atlantic and St. Lawrence Kail way depot, where he called my attention to 
some car-panels in landscape, just finished. 

"How much a-piece ought we to pay for them? he asked. 

"Well," said I, substantially, though I cannot of course remember the words 
I employed, "well, Mr. Poor, these landscapes are exceedingly spirited and 
clever, and were evidently dashed off in the heat and hurry of inspiration, com- 
posed with the brush, and never thought of, till they began to appear, feature 
by featvii'e, as we see them now." 

"Yes, but you have not answered my questions. What are they worth — 
how much ought we to pay for them?" Mr. Poor was a director, and was 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 57 

charged with all kinds of duty upon the Atlantic and St. Lawrence rail-way. 

"They are well worth," said I, "five dollars a-piece. May I ask what you 
are called upon to pay for them ?" 

According to my present recollection, his answer was to this effect. 

"Judge Prehle, our President, complains of my extravagance in buying pic- 
tures of acknowledged merit for these panels. Now the painter of these land- 
scapes we hire by the day," I think he said at two dollars a day, "and they 
cost us only thirty cents apiece." I cannot be perfectly sure of the language 
employed by Mr. Poor, but I know that I was beyond measure astonished at 
the actual cost mentioned, and at the wonderful spirit and facility of touch 
manifested. 

"Here he comes now, shall I introduce him to you?" said Mr. Poor. 

"Certainly," and forthwith we became acquainted. Tilton was tall and very 
thin, a mere boy, in appearance. After confirming the story told by Mr. Poor, 
he added in reply to a proposition made by me, that he had been earning his 
dollar and a half, or two dollars a day, enough to support himself and a mother 
he had left in New-Hampshire, and he was unwilling to venture upon the 
enterprize I suggested, which was this ; I wanted him to give up the panel- 
work, and betake himself to landscape-painting of a better style. I would 
furnish him with a large back-office, having a good northern light, or give him 
a studio in the hall overhead, through which I had opened a large sky-light for 
Akers, whom I had on my hands at the same time. 

Having persuaded him at last, with the help of Mr. Poor, to undertake legiti- 
mate landscape, I ordered a jjicture, and promised to obtain other ''patronage" 
as the blockheads call it, provided only that he would give me hurried sketches, 
instead of labored pictures. 

But anxious to give me a good penny-worth, he labored just as Codman had 
done, until he spoiled a finely imagined, and cleverly designed picture, which I 
threw aside at once, giving my reasons, which he certainly profited by; for, 
from that day forward, he was never guilty of laborious, over-doing, to my 
knowledge. 

Within six months after this, he had produced quite a number of beautiful, 
and eminently original pictures, compositions and studies, with a facility which 
was anything but "fatal" to him. 

And then, after this, he got up quite a gallery of large and small paintings, 
the largest, six feet by four, and the smaller of a more manageable cabinet and 
library-size, which were got rid of by raffle ; every subscriber being sure of one 
picture at least, got a good penny-worth, so that he was enabled to go abroad 
after awhile, and even to get married, luider circumstances exceedingly favor- 
able, to a highly-gifted and highly-cultivated woman, of New York, who under- 
stood him thoroughly, and foresaw from the first what he is now accomplishing. 

Some few years ago, Tilton was charged with imitating Claude. Now it must be 
acknowledged, that, in some of his paintings, which he turned out with aston- 
ishing rapidity, about 1860, there was a striking resemblance, a general, not a 
particular resemblance, to the style and treatment of Claude, in the atmosphere 



58 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

and water, so that, if I had not been well acquainted with his doings from 
the first, I should not have scrupled to say, here is no imitation, but there is 
undoubtedly what all painters and poets and sculptors must have, no matter 
how great their originality, the elements of education, or what may be called 
the hints or suggestions of a kindred spirit. 

Now I happen to know just how he fell into the manner of Claude, without 
ever having seen a Claude, nor perhaps a good engraving from one of his land- 
scapes or water-views, with the sun setting through a mist. 

Wishing to turn his peculiarities to account, and to coax him out of the track 
he was running in, I engaged him to give me a picture of Cape-Cottage, a 
watering-place I had established on Cape-Elizabeth twenty years before, and 
re-built with stone, after a fire had swept away the original structure. 

It was now picturesque — I might say grotesque, if not absolutely fantastic; 
but then it was delightfully situated near the sea-shore, on a bluff, and over- 
looking tlie whole neighborhood of water and cove and villages, with Portland 
in full view. 

The picture he painted, and I have it now, and mean to keep it, not more 
for its intrinsic beauty, though Tilton himself was heartily ashamed of it, when 
he saw it last, about ten years ago, but because of its origin. 

When he called me up to his room, and I stood before this picture, I said 
something about the resemblance to Claude. 

"Claude, Claude" — murmured the artist, as if he wanted to say "who the 
plague is Claude?" 

' "Claude de Loralne," said I, the most natural, poetical, and in my judgment, 
the most beautiful of landscape-painters." 

From what followed, no doubt was left on my mind, thatTilton was wholly un- 
acquainted with the doings and characteristics of Claude. 

Here tlien, just here, originated the style, which on further development, led 
people to cliarge our young friend with imitation at least, if not plagarism. I 
have now in iny possession, a large view of Rome, and the Castle of St. Angelo in 
the foreground — a narrow stream, with peasantry, and St. Pauls in the distance, 
towering to the heavens, and melting away in the summer atmosphere, which 
Claude used to revel in, and I must acknowledge that, if a stranger were to 
see it now, being himself a judge of paintings and familiar with Claude, I 
should not be surprised to hear him call it an imitation of Claude. Yet, noth- 
ing could be more unjust; for the very peculiarities, which seem to have been 
suggested by Claude, may be seen to-day, in the first picture he painted for me, 
after he had broken away from tlae sketchy, hap-hazardous panel-style — 
Cape-Cottage. 

After some years passed in Rome, Florence and Venice, he returned on a 
visit to Portland, only to reproach himself in a most unaffected way, for all he 
had done here, though some of his finest early pictures were in the possession 
of our townsmen, J. B. Brown, Dr. James M. Cummings and others, who had 
obtained them at the raffle, whereby be was enabled to go abroad, full of gener- 
ous hope, and holy confidence. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



59 



To prove that lie was heartily ashamed of what I regard even now, as the 
best picture he had ever painted at the time — a View of Rome, which was 
taken from the old Roman landing, at a point, suggested by Akers, and said to 
be entirely new in the history of art, I have only to mention what follows : 

This beautiful picture, he proposed to touch over, while with me in 1862 ; but 
I said no — decidedly no — Ihadalready suffered in that way, by allowing Charles 
Codman to '"touch up," as he called it, the sky of his first fine picture, painted 
after our acquaintance began. While "touching" it up — he touched in a terrible 
carmine sky, so that the very foliage he had gone over so carefully with a pin, 
lost all its vivacity. 

"No, no," said I, — "poets and painters are alike." They are never to be 
trusted with emendations. What is new, they mistake for what is better, and so 




POETLAXD HEAD LIGHT. SEE PAGE 61. 

they trample on what is old, because they have grown too familiar with it, and 
push forth all their new ideas, with unrelenting zeal and earnestness. Alexan- 
der Pope was a proof, and even Coleridge and Wordsworth ; and the only painter 
I ever knew who did not sjioil his work by going over it anew, after the origi- 
nal inspiration had died out, and the glow of composition had become a trouble, 
was Chester Harding, who went over a portrait of myself, which he had painted 
for the Somerset-House Exhibition, and threw aside in a fit of desperation; 
yet, after a twelve-month or so he took it up anew, and in two hours, just as I 
was about leaving London, produced not only a capital likeness, but, in my 



60 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

judgment, the very best portrait he ever painted. It was a half-lengtli, and 
perished in our great fire, among the household gods of our eldest daughter who 
had returned to Portland, not long before. 

After his return to Italy, he launched forth into another style, at once new, 
beautiful, and astonishing. Now his atmosphere, if you turned the picture up 
made you dizzy; now too, the hues of sunset melted into the waters of the Ad- 
riatic — which seemed absolutely wet — like amathyst and rubies and fluid gold 
— a lake of molten jewelry, flushing up with a changeable sky. 

After this — after doin^ Rome and the neighborhood of Rome, and painting 
pictures of Baicse, a famous watering-place of old Rome, of the Campagna, 
the Torre degli Schiavi, the Adriatic Switzerland, Nemi, of which he sent me 
an admirable sketch in pen and ink, with all the groupings, figures, &c ; some of 
which have found their way to this country, and even to this town. Owing to 
the liberality of Mr. J. B. Brown, he disappeared for a season, and then brought 
forth his water-colored studies of Egypt, for which he has lately refused some 
thousands of dollars. But enough. The reputation of John RoUin Tilton is 
now established forever, beyond the reach of accident or peradventure, though 
he is far from being satisfied with himself, and refuses to take any more orders. 

P. S. Since the above was written, it has occurred to me that some of the 
following additional items may not come amiss to the general reader : 

Our friend, Mr. John B. Brown has, in his fine gallery, additional to many of 
Tilton' s earlier pictures, painted here, a superb painting of large size and ex- 
ecuted in Rome. 

The pen-and-ink sketch already mentioned of Nemi, a lake and village of 
central Italy, the centre of an extinguished volcano, about seventeen miles 
from Rome, appeared to indicate a sacrifice like that of Iphegenia. The com- 
position was beautiful, the fore-ground all occupied with groups and figures, full 
of life and character. 

I have also a sketch in oil of St. George, of the Seaweed-Isle, which he sent 
me in 1869 — a wonderful affair, and the work I dare say of two or three hours 
at the most, reminding you of his first panel-work, though altogether superior. 

On parting with Tilton and Akers, my last words were, " Be patient, my 
young friend" — addressing myself to Tilton — "and if you last a few years, 
you will stand in the very foremost rank of landscape-painters — but — and this, 
I would have you lay to heart, as the foundation you most need — you must give 
special attention to the human figure and to grouping." 

And to Akers I said — your busts are sometimes worthy of the highest com- 
mendation; but — you must give your attention to anatomy and drawing, and 
if you do, after a few years at furtherest, you will rank with the foremost of 
living sculptors in that department, and prepare yourself, in the best possible 
way, for a higher flight. 

About four years after this painting, and this advice, I received two letters by 
the same packet, one from Akers and the other from Tilton, each written, it 
appeared, without the knowledge of the other, and saying that Sir William 
Stewart had just given each of them an order, and confirmed all I had said to 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 61 

both and almost in tlie same language. Hence the fine gi'ouping, and capital 
figures, full of spirit and busy life, in the View of Kome; and hence, un- 
doubtedly, the progress of Akers in marble portraiture, and the inspiration of 
his Pearl-Diver. This was in 1854 — twenty years ago. When we first met, 
Akers was about twenty-five, and Tilton about nineteen or twenty. 

Perhaps you have met with a volume entitled Art Hints, by Mr. James Jack- 
son Jarves, published at London in 185.5 — or rather I should say, ^'wporfmy 
to be the work of Mr. Jarves; for the book was not his, but Tilton's. All the 
criticisms, and every thought having relation to the art of painting must have 
proceeded from Tilton, for with all his pretensions, Mr. Jarves was no judge of 
painting or pictures, when I knew him — about 1855 — I should say. 

While wandering hither and thither about Rome, Tilton made two discov- 
eries which were decidedly impressive. One day, he found in the garret of a 
house where Claude had once lived, an old worthless picture, as the proprietor 
himself thought, which Tilton took a fancy to, and bought for a trifle. It 
proved to be what he supposed at the time, a veritable Claude, of singular 
beauty, so captivating to Ruskin who saw it on Tilton's way to America, as to 
throw him into raptures. It was left for a while in the Athenaeum at Boston, 
to be stared at and wondered over, by now and then a native artist, or connois- 
seur. 

The other discovery was that of a Titian — a real, undoubted and charming 
Titian, which was also exhibited in the Boston Athenjeum for a while, then left 
with me for a twelvemonth or so, together with the Claude, and then shipped 
for another world with the same Claude. 

The discovery happened in this way. Tilton was looking over a ragged and 
greatly discolored collection of old pictures in the rooms of a pawn-broker. He 
had Jarves for a companion. While running his eye over the collection, Tilton 
saw a small picture high up on the walls, and only to be reached by a long lad- 
der, which fastened his attention. On climbing up, he felt still more interested, 
and on bringing it down, he bargained for it, much to the surprise of Jarves, 
for he saw no merit, and no suggestion of merit, in the picture. Tilton felt 
satisfied, that, although sadly out of repair, it was beyond all doubt a Titian. 
Jarves only laughed at him. But Tilton persisted, and after cleansing, not 
^'cleaaing," it, most carefully, sent it to Page, the best copier and translator of 
Titian that ever breathed, for authentication. It was a Danje — and is now an 
acknowledged gem, and of itself, enough to establish the instinct of Tilton, as 
an artist and a discoverer. 

poktla:^d he^vd-ligiit. 

Here, within a short distance of Cape-Cottage, a watering place of consider- 
able repiitation, heretofore, we have the picturesque light-house here represent- 
ed, with fog-bell, the keeper's lodge, a prodigious bluff, and piles of talco-slate 
and strange geological formations, interfused with trajJ-dykes, miles in length, 
hissing hot, and a boundless view of the great Ocean, separating Cape-Cottage 
from Great Britain. 



62 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

This Cottage, by the way, was built by me — ourself — and occupies a very 
favorable position, about three and a half miles from our city. It is a sort of 
bastard gothic, built of the stone which constitutes the foundations of Cape- 
Elizabeth, and, on the whole, may be regarded as one of the most favored spots 
along our whole coast, for bathing, boating, fishing, climbing, loitering and 
romping. 

Many of the most beautiful among our three hundred and sixty-five islands, 
which are said — and believed by the old settlers and fishermen to cluster in 
Casco-Bay — are in sight from all the windows of this Cottage. 

And so too, is Portland, with most of our outlying neighborhood; so that, 
look where you will, if you but turn your head, a new picture opens to you, of 
land or water, mountain or village. 

It was here, and while getting up one of these pictures for me that Tilton, 
the bewitching landscape-painter, first fell into the manner of Claude de Lo- 
raine, without knowing it. 

POKTLAXD STONE-WARE COMPANY, 

North end of Deering's Bridge; manufacture every kind of pottery and stone- 
ware, with drain and sewer-pipe, of uncommon excellence. J. T. Winslow, 
Superintendent. All the furnaces have been rebuilt, and re-arranged on nevr 
principles in this fine establishment, within a few months, at a very large 
outlay, and they are now doing wonders. 

PORTLAND CEMENT DRAIN-PIPE COMPANY. 

Here is manufactured an Hydraulic cement pipe, which has a wide and 
growing reputation. True, Stockwell & Co., Agents, Danforth-street, Western 
Promenade. 

widow's avood-society, 

one of the most effective and admirable institutions in this part of our country. 
The contributions have amounted to over fifty thousand dollars, within the last 
thirty years. The Directors are from all the different churches. H. C. Barnes, 
President, Lewis B. Smith, Vice-President, Samuel Rolfe, Treasurer. 

FEMALE ORPIIAN-ASYLITM. 

Here is another of our noiseless unpretending charities, established in 1828, 
with a property valued at 50,000 dollars, fifteen lady managers, earnest, faithful 
and zealous— going about and doing good; and all, if not " by stealth," in 
such a way, that they would " blush to find it fame." The average of children 
fed, clothed and educated in this beautiful Home on State-street, is twenty-five. 
Mrs. J. T. McCobb, President, Mrs. J. B. Matthews, Vice-President, Abby S. 
Barrett, Secretary, and Mary E. Barrett, Treasurer. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



63 



OLD-OECUAKD BEACH. 

This new watering-place — new in comparison with half a hundred others 
along our coast, seems likely to secure for itself in perpetuity, a most alluring 
reputation. 

It is about fifteen miles from our city, three miles or so from Saco, and is 
right on the way of our Boston and Maine Railroad, one of the pleasantest and 
best in the country, and one of the most reasonable in its charges. 

They have there about ten miles — think of that — ten miles of hard smooth 




OLD OliCllAhU 1:1 



beach, where chariot-races might be had, after the style of ancient Greece and 
Eome, and where the trampling of the ocean may be felt, a long way inland, 
when its blood is up. 

The sea and surf-bathing are wonderfully fine — multitudinous indeed, and 
almost uninterrupted ; and the three thousand strangers, who have lately found 
homes in no less than twelve large hotels at Old-Orchard, make the whole 
neighborhood exceedingly attractive. Among these, and all in good repute, 
are the St. Cloud, the Paissell-House, the Adams-House, Pine-Cottage, and 
the Moulton-IIouse. 

The beautiful, smooth beach is likened to that of Long-Branch in New York — 



64 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

but, altliougli it may be for New England what Long Branch is for the Empire- 
State, still it is something more and better, on several accounts, being out of 
the way, strange and beautiful, and not so much vexed with shipping. 

Not far from the Old-Orchard House, you may find Fern-Park,, a beautiful 
and neatly arranged solitvide of forty or fifty acres, set thick — or thickly 
enough, with large trees — and provided with gateways and groves, and flirta- 
tion paths, and rustic seats, where whispering may be heard at all hours after 
sun-set. 

HOME FOR AGED WOMEX. 

Of this admirable Institution, calculated to meet the wants of a class, hereto- 
fore, and almost hitherto overlooked, aged women of worth and character, left 
helijless and alone, we could not say all we desire without appearing extravagant. 

Originally established, without parade or pretension, in 1865, and occupying 
a small frame-house, its growth has been so steady, though rather slow, that 
just now it occupies a lot 100 feet on Emery-street by 185 in depth, equal to 
18,500 square feet, with all the grounds, trees, gardens, &c., of the late Gov- 
ernor Parris — and the Mansion-House with all the appendages, remodeled, by 
Mr. F. H. Fassett, with entire success, furnishing accommodation for thirty 
inmates. 

Upon these grounds and buildings, the Association have expended only 25,000 
dollars, leaving a fund invested for future contingencies of 13,000 dollars. 

Mrs. John T. Oilman, President, Mrs. Neal Dow and Mrs. Samuel E. Spring, 
Vice Presidents, Miss Julia Greeley, Secretary, and Miss Elizabeth Mountfort, 
Treasurer. 

SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTOKY. 

Organized in a little one-story frame building — a school-house — in Dec. 1843; 
incorporated June 7, 1850 — and eminently prosperous up to the burning of our 
beautiful Exchange, in 1854, where rooms had been assigned to it, and lectures, 
with occasional demonstrations, were given. 

A very valuable collection had been gathered, and a large museum for a town 
the size of Portland, had got together, when the great fire of 1866 over-swept 
the whole — nothing was saved. 

The Society now occupy rooms in the upper story of our City-Government 
building, where they have gathered, for the third time, quite a handsome, 
though not a very large collection of specimens. 

Dr. William Wood, President, Wm. K Gould, Secretary, Edward Gould, 
Treasurer. 

MERCANTILE LIBRABY. 

Established in 1851. In the great fire of '66 they lost a4ibrary of nearly 4,000 
volumes, but have since got together nearly 5,000. Any citizen may have books 
by paying two dollars a year. 
In addition to this Library they have an invested fund of $10,000. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 65 

Their rooms are in tlie Congress-Hall block, corner of Congress and Temple 
Streets. 

C. H. Fling, President, John C. Proctor, Treasurer, Sam'l B. Grey, Recording 
Secretary, Chas. S. Fobes, Corresponding Secretary, Miss D. P. Coombs, Li- 
brarian. 

The lectures delivered before this Association every year have been among 
the best in our country. No expense seems to have been spared : and they 
have been not only attractive, but profitable. 

PORTLAND INSTITUTE AND PUBLIC, OR PEOPLES' LIBRARY. 

This very creditable association was incorporated January 22d, 1867, with a 
view to the establishment and maintenance of a public library, or rather of a 
peoples' library, which title would much better indicate the liberal character of 
this institution. 

It was intended to set up and encourage, after a worthy manner, a special 
Institute of Natural-History, perhaps by adapting, or absorbing, the Society of 
Natural-History, already established here, in the upper hall of our City-govern- 
ment building, in the confident hope moreover, that, in time, and at no very 
distant day, there would be a gallery of art, with scientific and other lectures — 
which might hereafter, be developed into something of a University. And all 
this, we believe must happen hereafter, judging by the progress we see. 

Two very large, handsome rooms, and three smaller, have been furnished 
to the society, in the city-government building, on the ground-floor, as you 
enter from Congress-street. 

By private contributions, and by the liberal action of our city, we have already 
gathered, nearly 15,000 bound volumes, cart-loads of pamphlets, &c., &c., and 
a number of busts and paintings well worthy of consideration. 

Life membership is fifty dollars ; and citizens pay two dollars a year, with 
right to take two volumes at a time, while the rooms are open to the people, 
without charge, at all regular hours — that is, from 10 to 1 P. M. ; from 2 to 6., 
and from 7 to 9 P. M. Wm. L. Putnam, President, Israel Washburn, Vice- 
President, Edward A. Noyes, Clerk, Treasurer and Librarian, S. M. Watson, 
Miss L. L. Braizer, Miss. M. E. Barbour, Assistant Librarians. 

OUR LANDSCAPE PAINTERS — HARRY BROWN. 

The career of this fine artist is but another illustration of that American 
characteristic, which stops at nothing, when thoroughly roused, though unac- 
quainted perhaps with the very elements of success. 

Wliether, like General Scott, conquering an empire with forces which, in 
comparison with what would seem to be indispensable, were little more than a 
corporal's guard, or undertaking huge enterprises in sculpture, like Paul Akers, 
without a knowledge of drawing or anatomy, or magnificent landscapes, like 
Tilton or Codman, without having studied a day, we are always achieving im- 
possibilities, working head-first, and without shrinking or quailing, against the 



66 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

established principles of government, of political economy and finance, and 
even of war, whether on land or sea ; and what is yet stranger, always triumph- 
ing at last, and astonishing, not only ourselves, but all the rest of the world. 

About fifteen, or perhaps eighteen years ago, according to my present recollec- 
tion, I was invited into a painter's work-shop, on Exchange-street, opposite my 
ofiice, to look at a head just turned off by Harry Brown, a young man, who 
at best, only claimed to be a painter of signs, banners, &c., &c., in full practice. 

The head was a wretched affair, and I lost no time in advising him to give 
up the idea of portraiture ; but while talking with him, my attention happened 
to be attracted by a rough landscape sketch, hung in the shadow. It was really 
rich, clever, and full of promise. When I found that this was his work, thrown 
off in the heat and hurry of sudden inspiration, while wandering by himself 
along the sea-shore, and among the out-works of the wilderness, I urged him, 
with all earnestness, to try his hand at landscape — sea-views, &c., — to begin 
at once, and to lose no time. 

All this, he undertook, and at once, and within two or three years, he began 
to "astonish the natives," and has kept on and on, growing bravely, until just 
now, his marine paintings are universally acknowledged for master-pieces, and 
he has orders from a distance which are, to say the least of them, very encourag- 
ing and flattering. 

Within the last year, having lost a beloved son of great promise, he went 
abroad for relief, and after seeing the finest galleries and studying the best 
pictures, returned only to show a large improvement, with a wholesome trans- 
fusion of what he had garnered up in his travels. 

Not long since, he undertook, "at the special instance and request" of ex-gov- 
ernor Washburn, to better a somewhat questionable portrait of that gentleman, 
and succeded so Avell, that I should be inclined to qualify what I said to him at 
our first interview, aboiit dabbling with portraiture. Strangely enough, his 
experience in landscape had given him such decided notions of color, and even 
of drawing, that the portrait surjirised and gratified me. 

But, after all, his marine-views are what he must depend upon for a great 
reputation. Some are quite wonderful — and so much out of the common- way, 
that you can detect no resemblance to any other painter. Eich, exuberant, and 
overflowing with sunshine and truthfulness, what should hinder him, with his 
industrious habits and glowing ambition, from taking a place in the foremost 
rank of marine painters ? 

' THE OBSERVATORY, 

standing on the top of Munjoy, and commanding all the approaches by 
sea, was built by subscription, and furnished with a large telescope, about 1807. 
Once it came near being christened — or stigmatized — as "The Brown Tower." 
This was very soon after Salmagundi appeared, when some of our young wits 
took the contagion, and we had a series of pleasant papers by Charles Ather- 
ton, William Crabtree, Charles S. Daveis and William B. Sewall, according to 
my present recollection, after the Salmagundi type, in which the observatory 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



67 



became a "Brown Tower," suggested perhaps by Mrs. Radcliffe's Mysteries of 
Udolpho, or Walpole's Castle of Ottrauto, then in their glory. 

Since the above was written we have received the following information. 
'*0n the first day of April, 1807, the lot on which the observatory now stands, 
was purchased by Lemuel Moody, of Mr. Enoch Jones, of Bath. The pur- 
chase embraced about a half acre of land, for which five hundred dollars were 
paid. A company was organized, called the "Portland Monument Association," 
and was composed of the following named individuals, not one of whom is now 
living. Hugh McLellan, Lemuel Weeks, jr., Thomas Roach, Smith Cobb, 
Jonathan Stuart, Wm. Cross, Joseph Moulton, John McLellan, Joel Prince, 




■"^AiAxucs^^ 



THE OBSERVATORY. 



Samuel Freeman, Jonathan Tucker, Moses Brown, Stephen Foster, Thomas 
Merrill, jr., Parker Ilsley, jr., John Ilobart, John Watson, Apollus R. Gushing. 
Stephen Stephenson, John Woodman, Walter Keating, Wm. Lowell, Jacob 
Noyes, Robert Motley, James C. Jewett, Wm. Merrill, Joseph McLellan, jr., 
Rush worth Jordan, Wm. Baker, Lemuel Moody, John Collin 5, 2d, Robert 



68 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Ilsley, Ilsley & Eobinson, Zachariah Martin, Charles Kittridge and Joseph 
Steele. 

The stock was divided into one hundred shares at fifty dollars each, of which 
Mr Lemuel Moody took twenty-four shares. The monument was built under 
the direction of Mr. Moody, and was in his care up to the time of his death, 
in 1845. 

The building was erected immediately after the purchase of the land, in 
which timber of the largest dimensions and the most durable kind was used, 
and which was obtained within one mile of the spot. 

The posts are to-day, apparently as sound as when the building was first 
erected. The elevation above the level of the sea is two hundred and twenty- 
seven feet. It is eighty-two feet from the foundation to the' upper deck. It is 
thirty-two feet wide at the base, and one hundred and twenty-two tons of stone 
are deposited in the lower part to secure its safety in a gale of wind. 

The ascent to the cupola in which is the telescope, is by winding stairs, so 
arranged as to relieve the ordinary fatigue of ascending that distance. 

A charge of fifteen cents is made for the privilege of viewing the harbor and 
siirrounding country, and no person M'ho has made the investment has reason 
to regret it. There is no point in Maine where the view of sea or land is more 
delightful. 

The keeper is on duty from sunrise to sunset, to signal vessels when off the 
coast ; by the aid of the telescope, he can identify a vessel twenty miles from 
the shore. 

Many of our merchants interested in shipping, have private signals which are 
set at the observatory when a vessel is seen approaching the harbor, with her 
signal flying, so that every owner is forewarned of the arrival of his vessel 
several hours before she reaches the harbor. 

The signal for foreign vessels is the national flag of the vessel signaled. 
On the appearance of a man-of-war, the national flag with a black ball under it 
is seen upon the observatory. 

The telescope now in use is one of Dolland's inake, in London, and was- pur- 
chased in 1807, by Capt. Andrew Scott. It was placed in the cupola of the 
Observatory at that time, where it has remained until the present day, having 
aided thousands now in their graves, in obtaining a view of our harbor and 
the surrounding country. In clear weather, a vessel can be seen thirty 
miles from shore, with a delightful view of the White-Mountains, and the 
intermediate country. There is no place to which strangers who visit us, can 
be invited to obtain so good a view of our city, our harbor with its islands, the 
ocean and its surrounding hills and valleys ; indeed no more delightful view, 
either of land or sea, can be found, than is obtained from the cupola of the 
Portland Observatory, in clear weather." 

OUR AVKITEES — GEENVILLE MELLEN. 

One of our earliest and best writers, both in prose and poetry, though chiefly 
distinguished for poetry. The eldest-born of our late admirable chief -justice 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 69 

Mellen, lie lived and died, after all, rather as a lawyer, than as an author. Yet 
he had many of the highest qualifications for perpetuating himself in poetry; 
sensitive, with an exceedingly delicate perception of pictorial beauty, and a sort 
of instinct, amounting to another sense, in all that related to the self-arranging 
power of language, he contented him with writing letters, occasional news- 
paper paragraphs, a number of short, and oftentimes very beautiful poems, and 
at most, one volume of prose, by "Reginald Reverie." 

He began a correspondence with me, soon after the appearance of my first 
novel, in 1818, and continued it until after my return from abroad in 1827. 

In 1828, he published a volume entitled Sad Tales and Glad Tales, if I do not 
mistake, for my copy was burned in the fire, and I cannot find another. It was 
very clever and very pleasant reading, and met with considerable favor. 

A poem, entitled "Chronicles" of '26," was delivered before the Phi Betta 
Kappa, of Cambridge, and published in Boston, in 1830. 

And in 1836, he delivered another poem, "The Passions," on the anniversary 
of Spurheim's death — of course, our friend must have been a phrenologist, 
though I had forgotten the fact, until reminded of it by the title of this poem. 

Some of his shorter pieces, like the Lines to an Eagle Soaring, were exceed- 
ingly picturesque and vigorous, almost sublime indeed, but of these I have no 
copy, and am not even sure of the title. 

At this time he was newly married to one of the most beaiitiful of our young 
women, Mary Southgate, and was, or appeared to be, settled for life, at North 
Yarmouth, as a lawyer. Had he lived, he would have been among the fore- 
most, being industrious, acute, and given to analysis, and to the "comisetition of 
opposite analogies." 

He had a brother Frederick, who turned off not a few verses of real merit, 
although unpretending, and a little newspaperish. 

OUR AUTHORS — MRS. A]S]sr S. STEPHENS. 

This remarkable woman, whose novels and romances, amounting perhaps to 
forty or fifty volumes, are to be found everywhere, began her career in Port- 
land under the most painful and disheartening circumstances. 

She was English, by descent, and I rather think, by immediate parentage, 
and may have been, by possibility, a provincial — a New Brunswick or Nova 
Scotia provincial. 

Her husband was a journeyman-printer, who worked at his trade for several 
years in Portland. 

About 1828 or '30 — a young, pleasant and attractive woman called on me, at 
my office, to ask my opinion of a story she had just written — a short story — 
and as I understood her, the first she had ever attempted. 

I ran it over, made a few suggestions, and then urged her, by all means, to 
cultivate her powers in that line of work. The story appeared in some paper, 
I forget where, but her improvement was exceedingly rapid. She wrote with 
great ease, and gi-eat earnestness, and from the heart. 

At another time, having succeeded in prose, she brought me her "Polish 



70 PORTLAND ILLUSTBATED. 

Boy," a poem, -vvliich, though very beautiful and eminently dramatic, I 
took the liberty of changing a little, here and there, in the phraseology, leaving 
the versification and general drift of the story untouched. This poem attracted 
no little attention, and appeared in not a few of our leading newspapers. 

Thus encouraged — after having written a number of short stories for the 
magazines, the titles of which have passed from my recollection, she took a 
flying leap over all hindrances in her way, and plunged headlong into the deep 
waters, the veiy whirlpool of authorship, and ajipeared as the editor of the 
Portland Magazine. This was in 1830. 

For this journal, which ended with the first volume, I wrote occasionally, and 
then she went with her husband to New- York, where she enlisted as a regular 
contributor for the Ladies' Companion, the Brother Jonathan and Express, 
becoming in fact the editor of the first mentioned journal, which appeared very 
successful for a time, but was finally abandoned. 

After this, she began writing two-volume stories, published by Peterson, of 
Philadeli^hia, until she had completed a series, well known throughout the length 
and breadth of our land. 

On a late occasion, she received, I am told, by one who has known her well 
for many years, and has the highest opinion of her, both as a woman and as a 
writer, no less than five thousand dollars for a single story. But then, it was 
for a prize, and if I remember aright, Mr. Peterson or Mr. Child was the party 
"who paid this large sum for a magazine-story. 

But however this may be, Mrs. Stephens is a women of great original genius, 
with poeti-y in her blood, patient, industrious, and full of impas'sioned enthusi- 
asm, A friend of the friendless, a helper of the helpless, we are told that she 
has great influence at Washington, and elsewhere, among the executive 
authorities of our land, which she employs for the help of prisoners and others, 
who want help, and know not where to find it this side of the Mercy-seat, 
wherefore let us wish her God speed ! and an abundant entrance into the joys 
that are promised to them that persevere in well-doing — whatever may be the 
judgment of the world for a season. Let me add, that notwithstanding her 
great — her almost astonishing facility, she is not easily satisfied with her own 
doings, nor ever ready to throw aside unfinished, what she may have once 
undertaken seriously, or set her heart upon. For example — in a letter of July 
23, 1843, she writes to me as follows in consequence of my unsparing criticism. 
"There is one paragraph which you found fault with, which I wrote over thirty- 
two times.'''' There's for you, if you are feeling your way into authorship. 

The following are only a part of her works. Mabel's Mistake, Fashion and 
Famine, The Gold Brick, The heiress of Greenland, Mary Dervvent, The Old 
Homestead, The Rejected Wife, Silent Struggles, The Golden Apples, The 
Wife's Secret. 

UP CONGRESS STREET FROM THE PREBLE-UOUSE. 

Here we have one of our characteristic views, which must go far to justify 
the extravagant admiration of strangers, who may "happen" at the Preble 
House, of which some account will be found on page 77. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



71 



The first building on your right is the rebuilt and greatly-enlarged mansion 
of the late Commodore Preble, who, with the generous indignation of a patriot 
and warm-hearted sailor, having early adopted for his motto "millions for de- 
fence and not a cent for tribute," went into Tripoli and all her gunboats, and 
batteries, with a thunder-burst, and brought the Dey to terms, liberating the 
American prisoners and abolishing the shameful tribute we had so long sub- 
mitted to, as did the other great maratime powers of the world, without remon- 
strance. And all this, be it remembered, without co-operation or help from 
any quarter. No page in our dazzling history of naval warfare shines with a 
steadier, or more enduring splendor, than this, recording the negotiation of Com. 
Preble, at the cannon's mouth, with the insolent, haughty Barbarian of Tripoli. 

Lord Exmouth followed after a long interval, when our brethren of the 




UP COKGKESS STKEET, FBOM THE PBEBLE HOUSE. 

British Isles had come to their senses, and not liking the idea of our Yankee 
" fir built frigates " Avith their "striped bunting," out-manouvering, and out- 
witting them on the high seas, in vindication of their national honor, Avent at the 
same batteries, fortifications and gun-boats, with a corresijondent result. But 
why not before ? 

Next to the Preble-House, you have a glimpse, or hint, of the Longfellow 
mansion, where Longfellow, the Poet, was born ; that is, you can see the rail- 
ings of that front-yard, already mentioned, and the shadow at least of a three- 
story brick house, to which hereafter travelling pilgrims will go, as to a shrine. 



72 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Further along, you have a view of the large blocks and warehouses, 'which 
have superseded the old tumble-down shanties, frame-dwellings, and empty 
spaces which disfigured that whole region but the other day. Most of these 
fine buildings were up and in full blast, many years before the great fire, which 
took another direction, and left this part of our city unvisited. 

The street-car you see, is another intimation of what our i^eople are doing. 
We have two lines through the city, and another running far away into the 
neighborhood, and these cars are among the best we know of, and the manage- 
ment is admirable. 

It may not be amiss to add, that we are beginning to lay wooden pavements 
along our widest thoroughfares, and have them now on Middle, Congress and 
Spring-streets. 

YOITNG men's christian- association. 

This admirable Institution, which appears to be doing much good and sup- 
plying a place long vacant among us, embodies about two hundred and fifty 
members — Universalists and Unitarians being excluded — not being Christians, 
of course, according to the Constitution of the Society. Meeting second week 
of the month. 

" Othodoxy is my doxy — heterodoxy yours," according to Professor Person. 

We have also a 

woman's CHRISTIAN-ASSOCIATION, 

Of which we hear, by accident, now and then, that they are borh earnest and 
faithful, and of late, prosperous. Not having any report, I am obliged to forego 
a great pleasure in referring to the works of these Christian women, whether 
young — or old. 

OUR POETS — MRS. ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN — alias FLORENCE PERCY. 

Although, not a Portland woman, this charming writer, both in prose and 
poetry, began authorship here, and soon became a decided favorite. 

Her newspaper correspondence, of which we are constantly meeting with 
specimens, being sprightly and original — original in the best sense of the word 
— without extravagance, and full of pleasantry, has been found attractive to 
the general newspaper-reader, in all directions. 

Her "Rock me to Sleep Mother," has set half the editors of our country by 
the ears, and forced out of the field no less than three different claimants, who 
persisted, till met by overwhelming contradiction. 

Her letter answering the silly stories about her being a factory-girl, and 
writing these very verses in a garrett, dripping with rain, or something of the 
sort, was truly refreshing, and all the more, that she kept her temper, and fore- 
bore to retaliate, when the gossips and slanderers were utterly defenceless. 

Much of her poetry is really exquisite, and she is constantly improving. Her 
natural touches too are indeed natural; and we could not well say more — un- 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



73 



affected, sincere and sweet, as where she flushes up with the clumps of wild 
violets, and the singing-birds. 

A volume of her fugitive pieces appeared in Portland, just before she 
winged her way to a larger market, and before she married Akers the sculptor — 
Paul Akers — with whom she went abroad, buiying him at last in the heart of 
Italy. Twice widowed therefore, she has had a large allowance of that tramp- 
ling, which brings out the perfume from the lowliest and sweetest flowers. 

OUR PUBLIC HOUSES AND HOTELS 

are among the best in our country, and- therefore, among the best in the 
world ; for, notwithstanding the magnificence, and costliness, and magnitude of 
some hotels in Paris, London, Dresden, and Vienna, they have nothing over 




FALMOUTH HOTEL. 



sea to be compared with some of our American establishments, for quiet luxury, 
convenience, and adaptation to the wants of a people. 

Among those we have here, of which a further notice may be taken hereafter, 
are the following : 



THE FALMOUTH — OR BKOWN S HOTEL, 

having been built for Mr. J. B. Brown, at a prodigious outlay, when, after the 
destruction of Wood's marble palace, in the great fire, the business-men and 
large property-holders among us, appeared utterly discouraged, and no individ- 
ual could be found — nor even a company, to furnish what all were ready enough 
to acknowledge we most needed, in our endeavours to get up out of the ashes, 
and begin the world anew. 

At this time — and most timely was the movement — Mr. Brown stej^ped for- 
ward and without hesitation or flinching, undertook of himself and without 
help or co-operation, to build what is now called the "Falmouth," and to 
furnish it, with an outlay of nearly half a million. 



74 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

And all this, lie has clone, and is already, we trust, begining to reap his 
returns. 

The hotel completed has a frontage on Middle-street of one hundred and 
fifty-three feet, by one hundred and seventy-four on Union — giving a super- 
ficial area of twenty-six thousand, six hundred and twenty-two feet. 

It is six stories on Middle and seven on Union-street, resting on a granite 
foundation, and built of Albert-stone, on Middle-street, and of pressed-brick with 
Albert-stone trimmings, iron columns and pilasters, on Union. 

It contains two hundred and forty rooms, and ten large, handsomely 
finished stores, or shops — we call them stores. The office is thirty by sixty feet, 
and sixteen feet high; the dining-room fifty-eight by seventy-two feet, and 
twenty-seven feet high, and believed to be the largest in New-England. Under 
the dining-hall is a large billiard-room, with eight tables. Two tubular boilers, 
built by the Portland Company, furnish the steam required for every purpose — 
for heating, washing and bathing. 

They have just introduced an elevator — and bathing-rooms are arranged on 
all the ijrincipal floors. 

More than eight hundred tons of the Albert-stone, quarried in Dorchester, 
N. B., brought here in the rough, prepared by C. M. Brainard, on West 
Commercial-street, and costing thirty thousand dollars, were used. 

The building was designed by Mr. Alexander, now of New- York, an architect 
of whom we have had occasion to speak before; the frescoing which is worthy 
of Pompeii or Herculanajum, was done by our townsman, C. J. Schumacher. 
The lessee is P. E Wheeler, of Boston. 

OUR PAIXTEKS — BECKETT. 

Mr. Beckett — Charles E. — as I have had occasion to say before, was among 
the earliest, if not absolutely the earliest of all our landscape painters. 

While yet a shop-boy with Dr. Coe, the druggist and apothecary. Exchange 
street, he was constantly trying his hand — and the patience of his employer — 
on all sorts of drawing, and grew very exact and precise. 

And then, after awhile, he came out with landscapes, which, not having a 
good eye for color, had the look of engravings ; the outlines and figures and 
composition being often worthy of high praise, while, for want of harmonious 
coloring, the pictures themselves, when completed, Avere unsatisfactory. Being 
very industrious and patient, however, Mr. Beckett managed to throw off quite 
a large number of paintings, which found favor among his not very particular 
friends. 

He has left a daughter, by the way, with some of the properties he lacked ; 
for she is really a fine colorist, and her drawings and paintings are full of 
promise. 

And sooth to say, we have quite a number of beginners and graduates, who 
will be sure of public favor, after awhile. 

Among these are Hudson, who has turned out a number of rich landscapes, 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



75 



cabiuet-size, and several others, who are now waking np and hxboring with a 
l>urpose. 

Nor must we overlook our neighbor Cloudnian ; a very industrious, patient 
laborer, whose landscapes are altogether too hard and precise — too crude — 
from a want of the color-sense, though otherwise creditable enough. Mr. C. 
was in Paris a long while ago, and made some clever copies from the Louvre. 

THE UNITED-STATES HOTEL, 

standing at the junction of no less than four of our principal streets, with its 
176 rooms, and large and costly additions and improvements, now in progress, 
the whole establishment being newly furnished, and comjjletely renovated 




UNITED STATES HOTEL. 

throughout, by the present lessee, Mr. T. "Walcott, who has acquired so high a 
reputation at the Mountains, has undergone many revolutions. 

Perhaps, a brief sketch of what this renowned Hotel has had to put up with, 
may not come in amiss here. 

Originally, it was a block of old fashioned three-story warehouses, fronting on 
Federal-street, and having but one store on Middle-street, fronting what is now 
called our Town-House, or the old City-Hall, and built in 1805, or thereabouts, 
I should say, by Dr. Coffin, father of the celebrated Mrs. Eichard Derby, who 
created such a sensation abroad, when presented to her majesty. Queen Char- 
lotte, of England. 

Long after this, having undergone all sorts of changes for the worse, it came 
into the hands of Mr. Charles Q. Clapp, at the time of our great land fever; 
and he, being a man of taste, with large means at his command, lost no time 



76 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

in preparing it for a hotel — not for a tavern — a respectable and rather attrac- 
tive establishment; adding the portico as you see it now, enlarging the rooms, 
and converting the ground floor into small shops. 

After this, it was further enlarged, carried up another story, and became 
known far and wide as the "States" — or United States Hotel. Then it came into 
the hands of Mr. John W. Lane, who has uplifted it another story, by building 
a mansard roof, and added a large four-story brick building in the rear on Con- 
gress-street, so that now it is not only one of the largest, but one of the hand- 
somest ijublic houses in the city. 

OUB WRITERS — MR. BECKETT. 

Mr. Beckett — Sylvester B. — who has published no less than ten successive 
Directories for Portland, the last of which contains about four hundred pages, 
is the author of Hester, a narrative and descriptive poem of decided merit, 
which without being either sublime, or startling, is brimful and running over 
with touches of nature and truthfulness, 

OUR MANUFACTXJRERS — THE C. P. KIMBALL COMPANY. 

The carriages turned out by this company have a national reputation, so that 
we hear of them, abroad. The sleighs are marvels for strength, beauty and 
lightness, and what are called the "jump-seat carriages," a contrivance of the 
head manufacturer, Mr. Charles P. Kimball, late our democratic gubernatorial 
candidate, are enough to make you catch your breath, when you see them well 
under way. C. P. Kimball, President and general manager, John M. Gould, 
Treasurer. 

THE AGED BROTHERHOOD. 

This truly charitable association was incorporated Oct. 20, 1869. 

The qualification which probably distinguishes it from every other charity 
known among men, is that a member must be at least sixty-live — originally it 
was seventy — but as our elderly friends were growing impatient, and did not 
like the idea of waiting and ripening for three score and ten, the five years 
were flung aside, and the more youthful are welcomed with open arms. 

There were two hundred and thirty-six members in 1872 — and of these, 
thirty-two have died since the organization. Now the living amount to 250. 

The members pay one dollar a year only, and there has accumulated quite a 
promising, though not a large fund. 

So that, notwithstanding the charities, funeral expenses and other charges, on 
account of the poor brethren, we may look forward with a confident hope 
that the Institution will be assuredly blessed for our children, if not for our 
children's children. Dr. Charles Morse, President, with seven Vice-Presidents, 
one for each ward in the city; H. C. Barnes, Secretary, Elisha Trowbridge, 
Treasurer. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



77 



THE PREBLE HOUSE. 

Fronting on Congress-street, just where half-a-dozen thoroughfares come 
together in the very heart of the town, with its one hundred and seventy-six 
rooms ; just re-fitted from attic to cellar, and manned witli colored waiters. 

The transformation of Commodore Preble's private dwelling-house into a 
superb hotel, was the work of General Shepley, and Mr. H. N. Jose, another 
of our active business-men, who means to be, and well deserves to be, a million- 
iare. It is now in the hands of Mr. M. S. Gibson and George Waterhouse, 
with a reputation worth having. 

Originally planned by an Italian architect, and built for the late Commodore 
Edward Preble, about the year 1800, but never occupied by him, nor by his 
family, until after his death, it was properly considered at one time as among 




PKEBLE HOUSE. 

the stateliest of all our private habitations, and we had even then, not a few 
that made strangers open their eyes, when they passed through Portland. 

It stood alone, fronting on Preble-street, with a large yard on Congress-street, 
and a garden, full of magnificent trees — after they had got their growth, — run- 
ing aAvaydown to Cumberland-street. While occupied by Mrs. Preble, the front 
was only about one-third of what we have now, additions being built on each 
side, as well as on the rear. 

In the height of our land fever, if I do not mistake, or soon after, the house 
and grounds were leased by Mr. Jose and General Shepley, our present United 
States Judge — another of our sagacious, clear-headed, long-sighted men, who 
seem specially gifted for such purposes, and converted into the hotel, as it now 
stands, flourishing and well-known everywhere. 



78 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

OUR AUTHORS — D. C. COLESWORTHY, 

one of the most amiable, persevering, and, on several accounts, decidedly 
successful of our writers, who are counted among the poets. 

But much, everything perhaps, will depend upon the definition of poetry. 
No two persons ever agree upon the subject. Poetry, of course, may be serious 
or playful — with the playfulness of old age or youth — sublime or tender, and 
therefore questions will constantly arise, and a difference of opinion prevail 
among the well-educated, as to what constitutes poetry. 

Tried by one of these towering standards, Colesworthy is not a poet — at 
best, only a versifier. But, if tried by another and somewhat lower standard, 
like that which settles the rank of Dr. Watts, Wesley, Mrs. Barbauld, or Hannah 
Moore, Colesworthy deserves the reputation of a poet. 

Some of his little i^ieces are tender, touching and beautiful — and of a char- 
acter to be remembered, and many of them have been republished abroad, with 
evident favor. 

To him, I have always understood, until within a few days, we owed our 
Transcript, a family newspaper of uncommon merit, now in the hands of Mr. 
El well — but of late, we are told that the Transcript originated with Mr. Charles 
P. Ilsley, one of our Portland editors and story-tellers, and one of our best. 

Soon after the Transcript appeared, we had occasional fugitive pieces, and 
after awhile, " Opening Buds," and then, year after year, other collections of 
what may be called his harvesting, many of which have appeared in our lead- 
ing religious and secular papers and magazines ; and just now, since the death 
of his wife, with whom he had lived forty years or so — one of the most amiable 
women of her day — he has begun, we hear, another series which will soon be 
issued. 

To Mr. GriflSn we are indebted for the following list of Colesworthy's works: 

1. Address to the People of Color in Portland, 1838. 

2. Happy Deaths, 1840. 

3. Touch at the Times, 1840. 

4. Chronicles of Casco Bay, 1850. 
,5. Old Bureau, 18(31. 

0. Group of Children, 18G5. 

7. Hints on Common Politeness, 1867. 

8. All the Year, 1871. 

9. Opening Buds — omitted by Mr. Griffin. 
10. Common Incidents, also omitted. 

And he has now in preparation. Master Chase's Scholars, which they say will 
soon be put to press. 

The modesty of the man, his exceeding conscientiousness and gentleness of 
temper, which endear him to all who are personally acquainted with him, will 
render his contributions to our literature acceptable, come how and when they 
may, and we may hope that his life may be lengthened to a ripe old age, 
and his great usefulness greatly augmented. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 79 

OUB MUSICIAXS — KOTZSCHMAR, AGAIN. 

Since the very brief notice of tliis exceedingly modest and highly-gifted artist, 
which the reader has already passed through, we have been able to gather 
quite a large number of isolated facts, which deserve to be iinown and remem- 
bered, concerning, as they do, a man so popular, and so highly esteemed, not 
only here, but in our larger cities, and in fact, wherever his works are known. 

Being almost the only musical comjioser among us, who, if not American by 
birth, has been here from his youth, or early manhood, we take, and have a 
right to take, especial pride in his manifestations. And now, a word or two of 
his doings and history: 

Mr. Kotzschmar was born in Finterwalde, Prussia, July 4th, 1829. Hence, 
probably, his American predilections, and general independence of character 
and thought. 

He studied composition, it appears, with that greatly celebrated master, 
Julius Otto, of Dresden, and came to this country in November, 1848, at the 
age of only nineteen, therefore, and to Portland, July 1, 1840, — so that he 
opened upon us in all the glory and the flush of early manhood, and from the first, 
has been well understood and warmly encouraged here. 

The following are among the best known of his Portland compositions : 

1. Te Deum, in F. 

2. Te Deum, in B flat. 

ANTHEMS. 

1. Kejoice in the Lord ! 

2. Deus Misereatur. 

3. Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord! 

4. Benedictus in E flat. 

PIANO PIECES. 

1. Aurora Borealis. 

2. Arcturus. 

3. Romance, in A flat. 

4. Magic Top Galop. 

5. Trois Mazurkas. 

He has also had charge of the First-Parish organ, ever since April, 1851, and 
has had uninterrupted practice meanwhile, as conductor of our well-known and 
somewhat celebrated Haydn Association, ever since it sprang into life, five 
years ago. 

Such being a part of the labors, and such the result of what has been effected 
by this amiable enthusiast, and the musical reputation of our people being so 
largely dependent upon what Mr. Kotzschmar has already achieved, and will, 
if lie lives long, as we trust and believe he may, hereafter achieve, in the musi- 
cal world, we are sorry that we cannot give him a page or two more in this, our 
little Register of Illustrations. 

As a teacher of music, let us add, that we have seldom encountered one so 



80 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

faithful, zealous and patient, and very few to be compared with him as a 
teacher. 

Full of quiet, conscientious enthusiasm, and overflowing with inward music, 
where music is wanted, whether solemn or playful, whether for dance or 
prayer, he never disappoints you, and never troubles the ear, or the heart. 

P. S. In addition to the foregoing, we have among what the author himself 
may regard as trifles — mere ebullitions of the hour — the following: 

1. Barcarole Quintette. 

2. Benedictus, Sacred Quartette, 

3. When Death is Coming Near. 

4. Merry Christmas Bells. 

5. List, my Heart. 

6. Come forth and bring your Garlands. 

7. Fairy's Evening Song. 

8. Chocolate-Drop Polka Eedowa. 

9. A Song for Easter-Day. 

Judge by these of what the man is capable. 

" From grave to gay, from lively to severe," you find him always at home, 
and always prepared. 

OUB AUTHORS — MRS. ELIZABETH OAKSMITH, 

decidedly one of the most engaging and attractive of all our American 
writers. 

Widow of the late Seba Smith, originator of the Major Downing letters, 
which were so gloated over in the days of Andrew Jackson, and so shamefully 
imitated and plagarized all over the country, she, herself, took to quite another 
style of composition. 

After some prose writings, which appeared in her husband's paper, the 
Courier, of Portland, and others which were issued in New York, while her 
husband was a colaborateur in the Express, this gifted woman gave birth to the 
Sagamore of Saco and to her Sinless Child — a poem of singular merit, and 
from that day to this, we find her constantly writing for the magazines and 
newspapers, and occasionally lecturing upon such questions as Woman' s-Eights, 
and Woman-Suffrage. 

What she may be doing just now, it were hard to conjecture ; but this we 
know, that she cannot be idle, and whether it be "the night-mare moanings of 
Ambition's breast," anxiety for independence, or a desire to do the greatest 
possible good to the greatest number of her sex — who are in bondage without 
knowing it — in bondage, not only to their corsets and millinery and dress- 
makers, and to the fashions of the day, but to their husbands, and sweet-hearts 
and children, -we may be sure that she will do honor to her sex, and go far to 
" vindicate the ways of God to man." 

OUR OPERA-HOUSE. 

Since all the foregoing was in type, our old Music-Hall has been taken pos- 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



81 



session of by Mr. Ward, with a fine company, and w^liat may be considered a 
large company for such a population as Ave have, and converted into an 
Opera-House, which opens this week, and promises all we can desire in the 
way of musical demonstration, for the multitude. 

P. S. It was opened last night, Sept. 7th, and triumphantly, with a crowded 
house, and a general outcry of admiration. 

STATE-STREET. 

Beautiful and picturesque as the engraved representation of State-street is, it 
can give the stranger no just idea of the large, stately buildings, and princely 




LOOKING DOWN STATE STREET. 



gardens, the Protestant, Catholic, and the State-street churches — all of them 
being hidden by the trees, a double row of our native elms, with here and there 
a horse-chestnut or maple, running along on both sides. 

The street is one hundred feet wide, and the mansions, with here and there 
an exception, large and showy, with deep gardens in the rear. 

The house you see on the right, stands at the junction of Pine-street, State- 
street, New State-street, and Congress-street, and has but lately assumed the 
appearance it now wears, having fallen into the hand of a liberal and spirited 
merchant, Mr. Frederick Storer — who tore out the whole inside of what was 
considered a very handsome house, when first built, forty years ago, having a 



82 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

granite basement, of ashlar, with trimmed edges, pressed-brick and balconies; 
and re-constructed another, and very tasteful building, of which yovi get only a 
glimpse, though enough, perhaps, to justify what has been said of it. 

On the whole, therefore. State-street may be regarded as one of the hand- 
somest to be seen anywhere, either in this country or over-sea. 

A double row of large trees running nearly the whole length of it, on both 
sides, are of themselves unlike anything we meet with elsewhere. And then, 
if you stand just where the pictured-street opens, you have a view of the White- 
Mountains on your right, and a glimpse or suggestion of the sea, a fringe of the 
Atlantic on the left, hardly a rifle-shot away, to encourage and cheer you in 
your path — in short, look where you will, you are sure of a good penny-worth. 

From all the upper, and not a few of the lower windows of all the houses, 
you have a view of the sea, of Cape-Elizabeth, and the numberless islets of 
Casco-Bay, with steamers, large ships, and fishing-craft, coming and going by 
scores, and often by hundreds, when the skies are darkened with a coming 
storm ; and everywhere, on every side, a magnificent panorama, from tlie house- 
tops, unobstructed along the whole sweep of the horizon. 

OUR PRIVATE MANSIONS OR DWELLING-HOUSES. 

A large number of these are of such a character, almost princely in their size 
and appendages, with extensive grounds, large gardens and out-buildings, that, 
if we desire to do Portland justice, they must not be overlooked. 

About the year 1806, our wealthiest men — merchants, mechanics and 
lawyers — began to build mansions for themselves out of all proportion to the 
size of the town — mansions which have been divided within a few years, and 
are still both large and showy. 

Among these were the Arthur McLellan-house, on High-street, now called 
the Wingate-house, though occupied by the widow of Mr. Charles Q. Clapp, a 
daughter of Mrs. Wingate, who was a daughter of Maj. General Dearborn, of 
revolutionary renown. And then Ave had the Stephen McLellan-house, nearly 
opposite on High-street, and High-Sheriff Hunnewell's house, on State 
street, which, after awhile, came into the possession of our late Chief-justice 
Mellen, and then of another greatly distinguished fellow-citizen, William Pitt 
Fessenden, and now belongs to his son William. And then, there was the 
James D. Hopkins-house, on Danforth, now in possession of Mr. H. P. Storer, 
and greatly improved, and the Joseph Cross-mansion, also on State-street, 
with its large and beautiful garden, which underwent a variety of transforma- 
tions for the better, while belonging to the late Stover Little, Esquire, and is 
now owned by Mr. Cyrus S. Clark ; and the two large, square, frame-houses, built 
by the two Washburns, house-cai-penters and brothers, one on York-street, and 
another on Cumberland-street, which was found large enough for two, while 
the late Judge Whitman lived there, and the Preble-house and the Matthew 
Cobb-house, at the head of High-street, and some others we have no room for. 

But these, after all, were but old-fashioned, roomy houses, without archi- 
tectural pretensions, though some had porticos, and heavy entablatures after a 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 83 

time, as they changed ownership, and not to be compared with scores of private 
mansions which have sprung up, as of themselves, along the approaches to 
Bramhall's-hill. 

There is not, I verily believe, so many separate, large, handsome and beauti- 
ful houses, to be found anywhere, in a city five times the size of Portland, as 
you may find just here, and along the crown of Bramhall. In fact, one gets 
puzzled and bewildered, who ventures up into that neighborhood, in the even- 
ing, or by a dim light, so strange, and so unlike the Portland he used to be ac- 
quainted with, fifteen or twenty years ago. 

And to whom are we indebted — mainly indebted — for these improvements? 
It is but simple justice to acknowledge that, but for Mr. J. B. Brown, whose 
grounds, buildings, hedges, gardens, trees, and shrubbery, are but the growth 
of a few years, where all was barrenness and hopeless desolation — but for 
this remarkable man, we never should have had this accumulation of noble — 
we might say — of almost princely habitations, clustered along the brow, and en- 
circling the whole neighborhood of that elevation, being set in the very centre 
of a magnificent panorama, stretching from horizon to horizon, and seciu'ed from 
all encroachment and obstruction forever, and ever. But for him, looking to 
what the land was — a deep, sandy soil, covered with low juniper-bushes, or 
savin, and swampy for the most part, with not a tree to be seen, except a few 
elms, in what was called the Vauglian Burial-Ground, we should have had 
either no buildings at all, or only here and there a one-stoiy house — a cucum- 
ber lodge, or a make-shift. 

And why do I say this ? Be patient with me for a few minutes, and I will give 
you my reasons. About five and twenty, or perhaps thirty years ago, Mr. 
Brown called on me to enter with him ui^on the purchase of the land knoM'n 
as that belonging to the Paine heirs, and lying all about the top of Bramhall's 
Hill. I had bargained for a large jjortion of it once, in the height of the land 
fever, but owing to a law we had at the time, which enabled creditors to enter 
a secret attachment, I asked for a guaranty, and was offered that of Mr. Ma- 
son Greenwood, a man of large proi)erty at the time, it was generally believed, 
but I had my misgivings, and the negotiation fell through, just in time to save 
me from great loss — for I had planned a cluster of cottages for that region — ow- 
ing to the sudden and hopeless failure of Greenwood, when, after a thorough 
enquiry, I ascertained that the land was all under secret attachments from the 
first, as I had feared. 

I told Mr. Brown my experience, but felt obliged to decline his proposition; 
having in fact, too many irons in the fire just then, Cape-Cottage, and three or 
four granite, syenite and gneiss-quarries, among the number, though advising 
him to go into it forthwith. 

Wliereupon, Mr. Brown, who was never disheartened, after having made up 
his mind to a great undertaking, adventured alone, and has already realized a 
large fortune by it, for which he deserves our most hearty thanks and ac- 
knowledgments, since he has wholly changed that part of the town, and made it 
impossible for the neighborhood to be dishonored, or belittled, by cheap trump 



84 PORTLAND ILLUSTBATED. 

ery dwelling-houses, or market-garden lodges, or tumble-down shanties. 

About this time, it was, while we were talking over the cost of living 
and our household expenses, and about my own carriage and horses, I 
asked him why he did not set up a carriage, instead of whisking about in "a 
one boss shay," to which he replied, showing it was not so much the expense 
that deterred him, though I had found it cost me about as much as it would to 
support a small family, as that he didn't like to set people talking. And yet, 
within a few years, this very man, established a vast sugar-house, which cost him, 
as I think he told me himself, over ten thousand dollars of dead loss the first 
year, owing to the stupidity or ignorance of the principal overseer, who had 
been warmly recommended to him, though he prospered greatly afterward, up 
to the time of the fire ; became the President of our largest savings-bank, and 
of at least half a dozen wealthy or charitable corporations, the largest property 
holder among us, I dare say, a large stockholder in our best railways, not a few of 
them having originated with him and some other full-blooded associates, having 
blocks and stores in all our business centres, and a banking-liouse now in full op- 
eration, with his two sons, Pbilip and John, for partners, both business-men, and 
both sure to be distinguished hereafter in the business-world, as John, the gen- 
eral, was, in our late war, where he was shot through the body, or both legs, while 
in the trenches or I'econnoitering, and taken off the field to die a most painful 
death, as they feared. Biit he disappointed them. And now, the father pays a 
tax of twenty thousand dollars on his individual account, and wholly apart 
from his co-partnership, as a banker. So much for indomitable jjerseverance, 
and what other men call rashness, or wilfulness. 

But all these large houses, though much admired at the time — Avhat were 
they in comparison Avith what we now see covering the top, and all the hand- 
somest approaches to Bramhall's-Hill? 

Anybody familiar with Portland but a few years ago, would be likely to get 
bewildered, after passing up Pine-street, or through the Arsenal-grounds — a per- 
fect labyrinth — on his way to Mr. Brown's charming villa, with its liberal out- 
lyings, broad carriage and foot-paths, large trees and beautiful shrubbery, gar- 
dens and out-buildings, with cast-iron statuary about the entrance; and a collec- 
tion of capital pictures within, he having the only gallery in our part of the 
world. And here we may as well mention, that among his largest and best pic- 
tures is one by Mr. Ropes, who published a fine little affair on perspective, 
and went from Portland as a taker of daguereotypes, which were altogether 
superior to the common average of the day, and is now well established in Italy 
as a landscape-painter ; and another by Tilton, about eight-and-a-half feet by 
four, giving us a view of the Lago di Garda, with a castle, fortress, a small 
encampment of soldiers, a group of well-arranged figui'es, and a fine view of the 
beautiful lake itself. 

Since then, Deering-street has been opened, and is now lined on both sides 
for a long way, three-quarters of a mile perhaps, with handsome houses of a 
moderate size and moderate elevation ; and we have also, in different parts of 
the town, a hundred or two of larger pretensions, like the following : 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



85 



The Morse-House on Danfortli and Park-streets, built of brown free-stone, 
and somewhat of the Italian type, but very handsome, very, and a building 
that would be a credit to any city ; and others we have no room for. 

And liere, it may be but fair to mention a very agreeable fact in the history of 
this gentleman. Years ago, Avhen he was but a young man, just entering upon 
life, and living in North-Yarmouth, the story goes, that, happening to see a low, 
unpretending cottage, with large trees, belonging to the Paine heirs, just 
where the beautiful mansion referred to now stands, he announced his 
intention of owning that property at some future day ; since then, he went 
to New Orleans, got possession of a magnificent-hotel there, made quite a for- 




LOOKING UP MIDDLE-STREET FROM THE POST-OFFICE. 

tune, bought the property he had set his heart upon, tore away the cottage, and 
built up the chateau at a cost of nearly one hundred thousand dollars — more 
or less. 

UP MIDDLE-STREET, FEOM THE POST-OFFICE. 

Here we have one of the most effective and satisfying views. Just compare 
it with Middle-street, befoi*e the fire, and you will see at a glance, how much we 
have to be thankful for, and how much to justify our conscientious bragging. 

Instead of our low, brick and frame stores of the ugliest type, irregular and 
slouching, with here and there a granite-front for the basement-story, we have 
what you see in the plate, large, high, and very handsome blocks, with hotels 
and boarding-houses of Albert-stone, marble, and gneiss, of the finest texture 
and choicest color. 



86 FOBTLANB ILLUSTRATED. 

OUK WEITERS — "WILLIAM WILLIS, 

One of the most patient, conscientious and itnfatigiiable of our Portland 
Literati. The following list from Griffin's "Press of Maine," a -work of great 
value, will give an idea of what Mr. Willis had but begun to do. 

1. Extract from Rev. Thomas Smith's Journal, from 1720, to 1788— 
appeared in 1821, and again in 1849. 

2. Journals of Thos. Smith and S. Deane, with a brief outline of Portland 
histoiy, 1849. 

3. Introductory Address before the Maine Historical Society, 1855-57. 

4. History of Portland from 1832, to 1864 — 928 pp., second edition 1865 — 
Bailey & Noyes. 

5. History of the Law, the Courts and the Lawyers of Maine, 712 pp. 1863. 

6. Language of the Abnaki Indians. Maine Historical collection, IV. 

7. Editor of the first six volumes of Maine Historical-Society Reports. 

8. Memoir of Stephen Longfellow. 

9. Scotch-Irish Immigration to Maine. Pami^hlet. 
10. Memoir of Henry Jenks. 

Regarded not so much as an historian, but simply as a trustworthy annalist, 
wholly destitute of imagination, with not a few strong prejudices, which he 
could not always forget, or smother, Mr. Willis deserves our heartiest com- 
mendation not only for what he has done, but for what he has failed to do. 

OUK AUTHOES — EEV. ASA CUMJIINGS, D. D. 

One of the very best among our old-fixshioned theologians, preachers and 
writers. To him, we are indebted, after the Rev. Asa Rand, and Rev. John L. 
Parkhurst, that is from 1826 to 1855, after which it passed into the hands of 
Mr. C. A. Lord, and then into those of the i:)resent editor, Mr. Snow, for the 
larger part of the forty years which have distinguished the career of our Cliristian 
Mirror. Conscientious and fearless, bold and generous, the Rev. Asa Cum- 
mings fought the battles of temperance — of "temperance in all things," — and 
of general reform through the whole of a long, laborious life. One little fact 
within my personal knowledge may give a better idea of the man's inward 
character, than whole pages of newspaper eulogy. We had, many years ago, a 
teacher of our young ladies' High-school, Solomon Adams. Having run 
ashore, he sold his house, a handsome, four-story, brick house, on Spring 
street, to Dr. Cummings, at what was then felt and acknowledged to be a 
liberal price, and removed to Boston. Getting rather embarassed tliere, he 
was looking round one day to raise quite a sum for immediate relief. He 
succeeded so far, that all he had to do was to step into the lender's office and 
take the money. Failing to do so, the gentleman called on Mr. Adams to ask 
why he had not called for the money. "Well," said Mr. A. — "I have been 
able to do without it, providentially," and then "he up and told him" how it hap- 
pened. He said that Dr. Cummings had dropped in just when he, Mr. A., was 
about going for the money promised him, and after saying that he had just got 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 87 

througli witli the examination of his books for the last year, and had found 
himself better off than he expected, and therefore proposed to pay Mr. Adams 
quite a sum above what they had bargained for, to the satisfaction of both at 
the time of the purchase ; to this Mr. Adams demurred, but Dr. Cummings 
persisted, and the money was actually paid over, to the unspeakable relief of 
Mr. Adams, upon the ground that the original cost of the house had been much 
more than the price agreed upon between them, and agreed upon without 
haggling or chaffing; but then it had fallen upon his hands, and was now 
coming up again. "Wliat say you to that, Christian brethren ? 

While editing the Christian Mirror, most faithfully and successfully, so that 
it found its way all over the country, Dr. Cummings found time to prepare a 
memoir of Dr. Payson, with a selection of his sermons, in three volumes, octavo, 
six hundred pages each, which appeared in 1849. 

Also, a memoir of Marion L. Hurd, of Fryeburg — 18 mo., and a sermon de- 
livered before the Maine Missionary Society, June, 1828. 

He died in 1856, aged 65, on his way from California, whither he had been 
^0 visit a daughter, and was buried in the deep seas, two days out of Aspinwall. 

OUK "WKITERS — CHARLES S. DAVIES. 

Without being professional authors, or volumnious writers, we have had 
among us — and have now — not a few men of decided character in literature, 
who, like our friend Davies, wrote just enough to make you wish he had been 
somewhat less devoted to the law, and somewhat more given to literature. 
With a large store of scholarship, and a severe classical taste, Mr. Davies 
might have left something behind him worth treasuring as a book, instead of two 
or three pamphlets. But he gave an address at Fryeburg, on the first cen- 
tennial celebration of Lovell's Fight, published in 1825. 

And a discourse on the death of Adams and Jefferson, 1826, and an address 
before the Alumni of Bowdoin-collcge, 1835. 

OUK WRITERS — REV. SAMUEL DEANE, D. D. 

This old-fashioned, square-trotting theologian of other days, to whom we are 
indebted for the Diary of Rev. Thomas Smith, his immediate predecessor, 
known as "Smith's Journal," gave being to the New-England Farmer, in 1T90, 
332 pages, 8 vo., and to a sermon at the funeral of that predecessor, in 1795, 
8vo. 

OUR WRITERS — MRS. CLARA BAENES MARTIIS', 

daughter of the late Phineas Barnes, a distinguished lawyer and well-known 
editor, of whom a brief notice will be found in another part of this record, has 
given to the people a charming little book, about Mount Desert and its pictur- 
esque surroundings, published by Loring, Short & Harmon. 
Also, the Little Nortons, a very clever child's book. 



88 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Also, the History of a Cat, unhoused by our great fire ; full of spriglitliness 
and playfulness. 

Mrs. Martin is an exceedingly pleasant writer, and must not be satisfied 
with these outlays : We have a right to ask more of her. 

CARKIAGE-DKIVES ABOUND POKTLAND. 

Go where you will in this country, or over-sea, and you will not often meet 
with a greater variety of pleasant, romantic and picturesque carriage-drives, 
than about this greatly undervalued, greatly misunderstood, if not greatly mis- 
represented Portland. 

If you take the easterly sea-shore road, and keep along by the old Falmouth 
coast line, always in full view of Casco-Bay, with its numberless islands, you 
will find such pictures at every turn, as are not likely to be forgotten by a lover 
of landscape-scenery, associated with marine-views ; and along this road 
through Cumberland, running to Freeport, North Yarmouth, Brunswick and 
Bath, you may ramble for half a day, or a day, with a certainty of being abun- 
dantly rewarded — not that there are any mountains or cataracts, castles or vol- 
canoes to be met with, or anything indeed, but the calm, tranquil and sooth- 
ing associations of untroubled country life, with the open sea and the blue 
heavens to lure you along your way. 

Or, if you prefer it, you can take the bridge-road to Cape-Elizabeth and go 
"rioting in foam and spray," along the rugged cliffs tliat run from Cape-Cot- 
tage to the first, or head-light, and thence to the two-lights, and so on to Front's 
Neck, Old-Orchard and Orchard-Beach, where a swift succession of unfinished, 
rough pictures — or sketches — burst upon you at every stopping place, in decid- 
ed contrast to the scenery along Falmouth foreside. 

Or, you may launch away toward Saccarappa, Gorhani, or Deering, or Old 
Falmouth, abounding with huge trees, and pleasant water-courses, and sunny 
lakelets, with here and there a primeval wilderness, which might well be mis- 
taken for a park — a nobleman's i^ark perhaps — like that of the Deering- woods, 
out of which you emerge, all at once, into the city of Portland itself. 

In a word, go which way you will, out of town, or toward the country, or the 
islands, your horses' heads will be sure to lead you into something out of the 
common way, and well worth seeing, though they may not lead you into any 
outburst of extravagant enthusiasm. 

Eocks and woods, and tinkling rivulets, pretty good farms and farm-houses, 
and a rough landscaj^e, with here and there a magnificent elm, or huge oak, or 
a cluster of birches, sumachs, and black cherry-trees, and a great variety of ce- 
dars, pines, hemlocks, with stone-walls half-buried in roses, overrun with wild 
vines, and flanked with golden rods, which Salvator-Rosa himself would not 
disdain to deal with, even though he were mustering his banditti, and bringing 
out the masses of rock, as if they were about falling upon you. 

But a brief description is hardly worth remembering, and we have no time 
for more ; come and judge for yourself. 

And then, if you are not satisfied, and want something to startle and aston- 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



89 



isli, just run up to tlie Notch of our White-Mountains, and see if that will not 
make you catch your breath ; or along the valley of the Saco, toward the Fran- 
conia treasure-house of rich minerals, and thence — anywhere — into New 
Hami^shire, Vermont, or the Canadas, and learn, perhaps for the first time, 
that you have lived to some purpose, and have no time to lose, if instead of go- 
ing abroad, you are disposed to get acquainted with the wonders and glories of 
your own great country. We have a plenty of Niagaras, natural bridges, and 
mountain-gorges waiting to be discovered and talked about. 

CONGKESS-SQUARE, LOOKING DOWN HIGH-STREET. 

Among the most beautiful and characteristic features of Portland, are the 
forest-avenues ; long, wide streets, with large trees on both sides, over-arching 




LOOKING DOWN HIGH-STREET FUOM CONGRESS-SQUARE. 

the distant perspective, and losing themselves at a vanishing point, where they 
seem to enter an aboriginal wilderness. Nothing can be more out of the com- 
mon way; nothing more likely to mislead a stranger into the l)elief that these 
are openings into our native woods, untroubled, unvisited and improfaned, 
although, M-ithin a bow-shot or two of the large, handsome buildings, churches, 
and houses, you may see on both sides of the street. 

RAPID GROWTH OF PORTLAND. 

Since this little book was got under way, the following items have come to my 



90 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

knowledge, and tliey are introduced here, partly to justify our extravagant 
expectations, and partly to quiet the forebodings and misgivings of our Boston 
friends, who are but just beginning to find out where to look for Portland on 
the map, having left us off entirely from a late railroad chart, just as they took 
the liberty of closing our harbor with ice eveiyyear, while a delegation of their 
business-men were laboring to convince our Canadian brethren, that our 
Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railway could never be built, or, if built, would never 
pay, and that theirs — even theirs — which has since so miserably failed — was 
the only hoi^eful, or justifiable route of connection with the British prov- 
inces. 

The first of these items, it will be seen, refers to only one, out of the many 
railways now in operation here, coming and going at the rate of sixty-five trains 
a day ; and a marvelous change having taken place in the opinions entertained 
against us at the time mentioned, a large part of the Maine-Central stock is 
now held by Bostonians, these very Bostonians who stood so much in our way, 
and refused to co-operate with us in our day of trouble, though, we and our 
fathers had been tributary to Boston for many generations, and were always 
her best customers. 

"In the one hundred and thirty towns, off the line, that do business wholly 
or in part over the Maine-Central railroad, are thirty-six million dollars, 
nominal value of property, or fifty-three million dollars, real value. In the 
fifty-eight towns traversed by the road, there are, one hundred and one million 
dollars nominal, or one hundred and fifty millions real value of property; 
making the grand total two hundred and three million dollars. The estimated 
real value of the property of the entire State is three hundred and forty-eight 
millions." 

And then we have other most encouraging items, whereby our friends of the 
West will see what may be effected hereafter, from their business relations 
with Portland. It is borrowed from one of our city papers — I know not which, 
and was signed Ontario. 

PORTLAND AND THE WEST. 

"Messrs. Baring Brothers & Co., Glenns and other bankers of England, are 
buying the stock of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence-railroad. Holders of this stock 
can sell to net them one hundred and five dollars i^er share. The writer has 
received this ijrice. This is indeed a very great rise in this stock — many sales 
having been made as low as fifty dollars, and some at less. This important rise 
and the very large expenditures made here by the managers of the Grand 
Trunk-railroad, and the change of grade, are influencing nearly every port 
in England to share in the business growing out of the changes, and to estab- 
lish lines of steamers running to Portland, connecting with this great road. 
The managers are pressing these improvements with great vigor, so that there 
will be receiving and delivery docks for seven of the largest class of steamers 
this winter — cars delivering their freight directly on board the steamers. 
Some of the steamers coming will take three hundred car-loads of provisions 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



91 



and grain — or thirty thousand barrels. Such large and increasing imports 
and exports will necessitate a very great increase of water-front in a few 
years, extending quite to Long-wharf. The managers here have any amount 
of English capital for whatever expenditures they may choose to make. The 
last steamer brought one thousand tons of English steel i-ails." 



EVERGKEEN CEMETEKY. 



The fashion, which has been growing upon our people, of honoring the dead, 
and making their resting-place an object of pilgrimage, devout and sincere, 




''•^ ■^i^Moasaj'^ji^ 



1 EMTEAXCE TO EVEKGKEEX-CEMETEEY. 

ever since Mount-Auburn, and Greenwood, began to flower into sorrowful 
attractions, we have followed here. 

While the buried, whose dust had been gathered from the beginning of 
their time with our forefathers, must far outnumber the living, even at tliis 
day, we have been satisfied with two narrow enclosures, one at each end of tlie 
city : The first and earliest, on Munjoy-Hill, having been over-crowded for a 



92 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

whole generation, while the second has but begun to be a place of large and 
quiet repose, where the "wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at 
rest." 

Of late however, and within the last few years, we have begun to ask our- 
selves if such hiding-places were altogether creditable to us, or worthy of our 
progenitors and compatriots, and the result was inevitable. 

We have secured and enclosed over one hundred acres of land in Deering, 
formerly Westbrook, within two miles of the town, full of attractions, with 
trees, waters, plentiful shrubbery, and the varying undulations of surface, 
which render natural scenery so attractive. We have laid out winding paths 
and carriage-roads, with hedges and monuments, and beautiful enclosures, of 
such a character, that the grounds have become a great attraction to visitors, 
and are often crowded with strangers, hour after hour, toward night-fall ; and 
we have established a line of horse-cars which run thither regularly every half 
hour. 

The receiving-lodge is ample, and must continue to be so for fifty years. The 
moniunents are simple and striking — unostentatious and imiiressive. To Mr. 
Eamsey and Mr. Fox, we are largely indebted for the present aspect of these 
grounds ; the decorations, flowers, trees, by-paths and shrubbery, having been 
carefully and systematically planned and pressed forward, year after year, as 
they were at Mount- Auburn, twenty-five years ago, by the late Gen. A. S. Dear- 
born, who seemed to have a sort of intuition toward such work. In a word, 
Evergreen Cemetery is worthy of all that can be said of it, and our God's-acre 
is no longer a place to be ashamed of, or sorry for. 

OUR AUTHORS — MRS. MARGARET J. M. SWEAT. 

This very clever woman, who continually reminds one of Mrs. George Grote, 
a contributor to the Westminister-Review, as Mrs. Sweat is to our North 
American-Review, has written and published the following books. 

Ethel's Love-Life — a story of considerable merit, and supposed to be some- 
what auto-biographical. 

High-Ways and By-ways, a book of travels, or wanderings, written as people 
of good sense and good intentions talk in this world. 

And not long ago, Mrs. Sweat, who is by constitution, a great admirer of 
George Sands, wrote a somewhat "lengthy" critique on that modern chevalier, 
D'Eon, Avith a patient, general analysis of his character, for which in due 
time she had a written acknowledgement from the lady herself. 

THE PORTLAND COMPANY. 

This large and prosperous establishment sprang up at the time of our open- 
ing the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railway — now getting to be international, 
and perhaps inter-oceanic. 

They turn out locomotive engines and tenders, marine engines, stationary en" 
gines, sugar-mills, cars, etc., etc. ; and their work enjoys the highest reputation 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 93 

throughout the land — orders coming from a distance very often, and some- 
times for a large number of engines or cars. 



FIRST PAKISII CHURCH — UNITARIAN. 

So called from having been the first church — or meeting-house —planted 
here —for the earliest of our fore-fathers had a horror of churches, and by way 
of distinction, like the followers of George Fox, called their places of worship 




FIRST PARISH CHURCH. 

Meeting-Houses, just as they do to this day, while their brethren of the Epis- 
copal faith, persist in denying their right to have a church, without a bishop, 
anywhere, as something preposterous or inconguous. 

Up to IGGl, our people were without any established spiritual guide, and 
were only gathered from time to time, under a decree of the General-Court, "en- 
joiniiig them to meet together on the Lord's day for their mutual edification 



94 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

and furtherance in the knowledge and fear of the Lord, by reading God's 
word, by the labors of known and orthodox divines, singing of psalms and 
praying together, or such other ways as the Lord shall enable them, till the fa- 
vor of God shall so far smile upon them, as to give them better and more pub- 
lic means for their edification." 

In the following May, these prayers were answered, and they had a preacher, 
"a6?e and orthodox," but he soon withdrew. And then followed two Episcopa- 
lians, Gibson and Jordan, and then there came another decree from the Gener- 
al Court of Massachusetts in July, 1860, commanding them to "seek out and 
provide themselves with an able and orthodox minister, by the 20th of Septem- 
ber following, under a penalty of fifty pounds," to be paid unto the ministry of 
the next town, yearly, "during their destitution." 

Notwithstanding all this, however, the first meeting-house had been set up in 
1740, at the junction of Middle and India streets — one story — and without 
glass ; after awhile this building became the town-house, and then a school- 
house, up to 1774, when it disappeared. 

In 1783, after the war of Independence, we had only two religious societies, 
the First Parish and the Episcopal — now we have no less than thirty-five, and 
perhaps forty, if we count all associations for worship. From 1719 to 1787, we 
had for the minister of our First Parisli Church, the Rev. Thomas Smith, whose 
diary we have been so familiar with, being followed by that of Dr. Samuel 
Deane, his coadjutor and successor up to the time of Dr. Nichols. 

The church, as originally built, was of the long-established inflexible type, 
with a projecting tower and belfry, and a spire sufficiently consiiicuous to ren- 
der it an object of interest to our mariners for a long way out. 

The pews were high-backed, so that you could only see the top of your 
next neighbor's head and shoulders, uncushioned and unwarmed, but 
panelled, so that upon some of these panels, which came into the possession of 
Charles Codraan, when they broke up the old wooden-building and began the 
present stone-edifice, many of his most beautiful paintings are to be found, for 
Charles had a hankering for the antique and the mysterious, and was not only 
a desperate antiquarian, but a great enthusiast. I, myself, happen to have two 
of these landscapes, on the old First-Parish panels. 

It will be observed, that in all the extracts given from the records of the Gen- 
eral Court of Massachusetts, and from the proceedings of the council, the First 
Parish was emphatically and vehemently orthodox — whatever may then have 
been understood by that cabalistic word, as if to i^rovide against one at least, 
of the many inevitable changes that occiir in the history of churches. 

But Dr. Deane, it was said and believed at least, was no better than an 
Armenian — was that orthodox? — and Dr. Nichols, his co-adjutor, was, at best, 
only a liberal, conscientious Unitarian, and now we have Dr. Hill, one of the 
ablest of our theological corps, a downright, unqualified Unitarian, of a still 
more hopeful type. Are these orthodox ? And the church where they minis- 
tered before him, and where he now ministers — is uhat orthodox? and if not, 
pray what earthly use can there be in legislating about creeds, dogmas, and 
church governments ? 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 95 

The present rough-stone edifice, though plain to iigliness, occupies the 
original site of the First-Parish Church, and on the whole, is a very respect- 
able affair. Built of a gneiss, quarried in the neighborhood, and according 
to the ancient type, with tower, belfry and spire, just in the middle of the 
frontage on Congress-street, what have we to complain of? Is it not most 
assuredly orthodox ? 

Thoroughly and beautifully finished within, stuccoed and frescoed, with 
comfortable pews, charmingly upholstered, and with the conveniences that 
drowsy hearers require, the First-Parish Church deserves to be spoken of 
with bated breath. It was here in the gallery of this church, that our Kotzsch- 
mar began a career as organist, which has continued, without interruption for 
years. The music of the old First-Parish, has been our boast from about the 
year 1808, 

At the time of Dr. Nichols' entry upon the stage here, out of which a long 
and bitter controversy grew up, such was the amiable temper of the man, and 
such the influence of his quiet example, that a sudden revolution took place in 
some of our daily habits — in horsemanship for example, for he sat in the sad- 
dle as nobody else did, in our part of the world, riding with straightened 
legs of portentous length, sticking out like a pair of compasses. I remember 
it well, and I remember the admiration he excited, being a scholar and a 
gentleman, just out of a theological school, and fresh from the riding-lessons 
of Eoleston. 

He had many imitators, even among those who had no patience with him as 
a preacher of unitarianism and brotherly love ; and so the controversy raged at 
our religous meetings, at our firesides, and by the street-corners. How strange ! 
Here we are, all of us, under sentence of death, and only waiting for execution, 
which is sure to come, and almost always unseasonably and unexpectedly — 
and yet, we are unforgiving, intolerant and bigoted, one toward another; for- 
geting that "in our Father's house there are mansions;" and that if so, there 
must be many paths leading to them. Let us be charitable therefore, and be 
hopeful to the last, believing and trusting in Him, whose mercy endureth 
forever. 

JOHN A. POOR. 

Among the foremost of our leading men, this gentleman deserves a more 
lengthened notice than we have room for. 

It is undoubtedly true, that, to no man — not even to our friend John B. 
Brown, does Portland owe so much of her growing prosperity, and hopefulness 
for all future time, as to John A. Poor ; a connection, by the way, of Mr. 
Brown himself, a brother of Mrs. Poor having married a sister of Mrs. Brown. 

Perhaps it may not be considered obtrusive or untimely, if we should give a 
slight, preliminary sketch of Mr. Poor, showing what he was before he became 
a rail-way magnate, and how he managed to break away in the maturity of his 
strength, while practicing law at Bangor, with great success, from the associ- 
ates of his early manhood. 



96 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

I had never known Mr. Toor, personally, beyond what I gathered in a hurried 
interview, soon after I had opened a law-office in Portland, about 1828 or 30 ; 
but one morning, while I was on my way to one of our newspaper-offices, in 
1836, or thereabouts, with an article in favor of opening Crooked-river, for 
the help of our lumbermen and farmers, I was accosted by a tall, handsome 
fellow, who called me by name, and reminded me of the interview referred to, 
and of some advice I had ventured to offer him, as a beginner in the world. 

He was on his way, he said to the U. S. District Court-room, where he pro- 
posed to demonstrate the practibility of communication with Montreal, by rail. 
I was not a little astonished for it seemed to me at first, that he had overlooked 
— or overtopped — the White-Hills to begin with. But I went with him, never- 
theless, and waited patiently for the demonstration. There were not more 
than a dozen or perhaps fifteen of our leading business-men and property 
holders present, among whom were the late Judge Preble, who became presi- 
dent of the road, Mr. John Mussey, clerk of the U. S. Courts, and one of our 
wealthiest and most sagacious land-holders, and I believe, though I am not 
altogether sure, Mr. J. B. Brown, himself, and perhaps Mr. St. John Smith, 
his old partner in business. 

After some brief questioning, I found that Mr. Poor was perfectly familiar 
with the whole topography of the route he had in view, that, in some way, he 
had been connected with Greenleaf, in preparing the map of Maine, a lasting 
monument of the author's perseverance and scrupulous accuracy. 

After Mr. Poor had finished his demonstration, remarks were made by Judge 
Preble, and others, but were not of a character to lift you off your feet, or fill you 
with turlnilent enthusiasm. Being then called upon to say a word, I contented 
myself with declaring it as my opinion, that, if Mr. Poor's calculations and 
statistics were trustworthy, the road was in fact, already built, for it certainly 
would burn its way through. 

The proper steps were taken without delay, public meetings were called, the 
newspapers were enlisted, a charter was obtained, a corporation organized, and 
such liberal subscriptions obtained, as made success absolutely certain, though 
hindrances did occur, and some disappointments. Nevertheless, the Atlantic 
& St. Lawrence rail-road, now the Grand-Trunk, with all its manifold con- 
nections, running through Upper Canada, was established. 

Of this corporation, Mr. Poor was a director, and ought to have been presi- 
dent. Then followed our Portland-Company, our Gas-works, and the Portland 
& Oxford rail-way, all inspired by the foresight and perseverance, of Mr. Poor. 
And at last, not long before his death, he planned, and if he had lived but 
another year, would have consumated one of the most magnificent and promis- 
ing rail-way enterprizes for inter-oceanic railway communication, whereby the 
shortest possible route between the Pacific and the Atlantic, would have been 
secured forever, without the possibility of interference. To this end the Port- 
land, Rutland Oswego & Chicago Railway was chartered, liberal subscrip- 
tions obtained all along the road, the co-operation of other railways and many 
large communities being secured, careful surveys and estimates were made and 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



97 



then without warning or notice, the grandly organized projector of tliis mag- 
nificent enterprise was struck with sudden death — and all action was suspend- 
ed, though the organization is kept up, and will continue, we may be sure, till 
the great work is accomplished. 



OUR CHURCHES — THE PAYSON-MEMORIAL. 

This beautiful building, which has worked its way up out of the ashes, but 
slowly, it must be acknowledged, since the great fire, considering who Dr. Pay- 




PAYSON MliMORIAL CHL'ECH 

son was, and what he did for Portland and the inhabitants of Portland, year 
after year, as a preaclier of Christ crucified, and the ambassador of God, will 
soon be completed, with spire, turrets, and all becoming appendages, we hope 
and believe. 

It is built of what is called "the white Hallowell-granite," which, by the 
way, is no granite, but gneiss, the mica predominating, so that the quarry lies 

7 



98 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

in sheets instead of being amorphous, like all true granites. Nevertheless, it is 
a beautiful material, and the church itself a handsome and impressive affair — 
is it not? Chaste and simple, instead of being over-loaded with preposterous 
ornamentation. 

Mr. F. H. Fassett, one of the individuals mentioned before, was the architect. 
And here it may be worth our while to give a brief extract from a paper enti- 
tled "the Portland Churches," which appeared last April — but where, I do 
not know, though from the paging 2.59-264, I should suppose, in some of our 
monthlies or quarterlies, of a religious type. 

"Though settled in 1032," says the writers, "there were in 1718 but twenty 
families on the Neck, now Portland." Then appeared "the Eev. George Bur- 
roughs, a graduate of Harvard, who preached here awhile, but was not actual- 
ly settled, when the town was destroyed in 1676. He had a grant of seven 
acres, near the City-Hall, and in 1683 exchanged it for a lot near the fort," — 
on the top of Munjoy-Hill, probably, for no other fort is mentioned in our 
early history. "He was a clergyman of unexceptionable character," — and so 
they hung him up for witchcraft, in 1692, at Salem. 

After this, we had the Rev. Tliomas Smith, who labored in the ministry from 
1727 to 1794 — a period of sixty-seven years. The little, unfurnished, unglazed 
building, heretofore mentioned, at the corner of Middle and India streets, 
was our only place of worship up to 1740, when another edition appeared with 
■windows, and it is to be hoped with glass, but without tower or steeple, and of 
course without fire, outside of the pulpit — "just where the First Parish Church 
(Unitarian) now stands." 

In Parson Smith's diary of Dec. 15th, 1782, he says "more horrid cold and 
windy. I could not stand it, but dismissed the people after prayers and singing." 
"Probably," adds the writer, who seems to have a rich vein of humor, if not of 
priestly sarcasm in his make-up, "his prayer was shorter than iisual," for at 
another time he says "I had extraordinary assistance, was an hour-and-a-half 
in prayer A. M., and above an hour P. M." Really! the man must have quite 
forgotten that we are not heard for our much speaking — especially in such 
cold weather, when, as Dr. Deane testifies, "the water for baptism froze over." 
When Mr. Smith was first settled, the population of the Neck was but two hun- 
dred and fifty, and his salary but seventy pounds currency, or $233, board and 
fuel, with "contributions of strangers." 

In 1787, a new society was formed, and according to Parson Smith, "the sep- 
aratists voted themselves off," — Sept. 12th, 1787, — and then, October od, he 
adds, in the bitterness of his soul, "one Kellogg came to preach to the separat- 
ists;" and then we have the following lugubrious moaning: "Hard Times; 
no money ; no business, is the general cry !" And once more, in his eighty-sixth 
year, he adds, "poor Portland is plunged into ruinous confusion by the separa- 
tion." 

And yet "poor Portland" survived the wrench, and continued flourishing, 
more and more, as she did through the embargoes and non-importation and 
noD -intercourse laws, the failure of our United States-bank, and the wars of 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 99 

1812, and 1861, and the great fire, — when she was utterly ruined, wrecked and 
destroyed ; hut then Portland can hear a great deal of ruining, as the girl said, 
when questioned about a third or fourth complaint for being ruined. 

"One Kellogg" was from South-IIadley, and served as a drum-major in the 
battles of the Eevolution, and afterward as a saw-mill laborer, while 
working his way up through Dartmouth-College. His boy Elijah, the au- 
thor, who has done so much for other boys — and we might hope for fathers, 
also, though not in the same way — happening to express a decided belief that 
Hercules had done more good, killing dragons and cleaning stables, than Dod- 
drige ever did, with his "old Rise and Progress," the father hurried off to church 
and requested prayers for the young reprobate. "The readers of the quarter- 
ly" — so then, it was the quarterly; but what quarterly ? — "are familiar with 
the sequel," continues the writer. "His fiery nature was changed, and he yet 
lives to preach and write books for the boys." 

The separatists, or second church, was first gathered, fifteen members all 
told, in the north school-house, near the burial ground, Munjoy, and then they 
removed to the court-house, which stood on Exchange-street, half-way up from 
Middle to Congress, and then, their church became a soap-factory, now stand- 
ing on Green-street, and fulfilling its mission better, it may be, than by using 
fuller's earth. The society was incorporated March 17th, 1788. On Sunday, 
Sept. 28th, 1788, the new building on Middle-street, represented by a distant 
view, as you see it on page 15, was opened, temporary seats being used, till the 
pews could be got ready. On the following Thursday, Mr. Kellogg was ordained. 
Mr. "Willis says — and Mr. Willis was a Unitarian — that "the ardent, earnest 
style of young Kellogg, so different from the tame and quiet preaching to w'hich 
they had been accustomed, aroused the whole coimnunity, and well nigh pros- 
trated the old society." 

"Mr. Kellogg owned a part of Munjoy, and about eighty years ago, gave the 
first impulse to that taste for planting trees, which made Portland the forest 
city." But where? Xot on Munjoy, most assuredly. 

In 1807, the Rev. Edward Payson, of whom we have all heard so much, and to 
whom the world is so much indebted, both abroad and at home, though he was 
always at open war with the world, the flesh, and the devil, giving no quarter, 
and asking none, was ordained as colleague of Mr. Kellogg, Dec. 16, 1807, and 
from Dec. 4, 1811, was sole pastor of the church, after the expulsion of Mr. 
Kellogg, up to Oct. 22, 1827, when he died at the age of 47, not having lived 
out half his days, though he had done the work of more than a long life- 
time, and left a name above every other name among us. 

Then we had the Rev. Bennett Tyler, late president of the East- Windsor 
Seminary, a very sound, able, and thoroughly orthodox theologian, of the 
Jonathan Edwards type, and then the Rev. Joseph Vaill, D. D.— another 
earnest, able, and reasonably zealous man ; and the Rev. Jonathan B. Condit, 
D. D., of Auburn Theological Seminary, N. Y.— another of that more than 
Macedonian phalanx, who held the field against all gainsayers, with vizors 
closed and lance in rest, up to the last day of his ministering. And then, the 



100 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

Eev. J. J. Carruthers, who was installed Aug. 9, 1846 — a Scotchman, once 
a missionary in Russia — who must have drawn in with his mother's milk, the 
very quint-essence of that sublime, though terrible faith, which made John 
Knox what he was ; for though, neither a fanatic nor a bigot, nor even very in- 
tolerant, he never temporizes, nor qualifies what he has to say, but goes 
straight to the mark, like a thunderbolt — moving upon the enemy's works 
with a perpetual bayonet charge, at double-quick. 

In 1825, a colony was thrown off, to constitute our Third Church; in 
1831, fifty-seven members were organized for the High-street church ; in 1835, 
the Abyssinian, or Fourth Congregational-church, Newbury-street, was formed 
by the colored members of the Second church. In 1852, the members from the 
three elder churches, were organized into the State-street church; in 1840, the 
Bethel-church was formed ; in 1858, the St. Lawrence-street church ; in 1869, 
the Plymouth, of the Third and Central, and in 1873, the Williston — so that 
Congregationalism here has yielded abundant fruitage, without having been 
watered with the blood of martyrs, or scorched by the fires of persecution — 
for which God be thanked. 

On the night of our dreadful fire of July 4, 1866, the Bethel, the Second, and 
the Third-Parishes, lost their houses of worship, and no Congregational place 
of assembly was left, in the central part of the city. On the 13th, following 
the fire, the Second-church and society, were offered, and forthwith accepted, a 
home in the State-street church, until they could set up another house for 
themselves. The pastor and more than sixty-five families of the parish, had 
lost their houses and homes, the pastor himself being dangeroiisly ill at the 
time. Then followed a sore trial. The insurance was almost entirely lost, by 
the failure of a local ofiice ; and the corner-stone of a new building was not 
laid until July 4, 1868, 

"By the sale of the old site," continues our authority, "now surrounded with 
warehouses and stores ; by local subscriptions and donations, and by generous 
contributions from abroad, and about $10,000 collected by the pastor, the socie- 
ty have been enabled to put up a substantial brick-building, with a gneiss 
front, secured at a smaller cost than one of pressed-brick, and free-stone 
facings. The name fixed upon at last, is that which it now bears. The Pay- 
son-Memorial Church." 

"Had the pastor's health permitted a continuance of his labors, in collecting 
funds for the completion of this undertaking, the whole amount might have 
been procured." So says the writer, of whom we borrow these details. 

"Bonds for $12,000 have been issued, to run twenty years. This cov- 
ers all arrearages ; and $10,000 more to be realized from the sale of pews, it 
is believed, will be sufficient for completing the house, making the whole cost 
$75,000. 

"There will be — indeed there are now — seats for 1200 in 134 pews and gal- 
leries, two walls and two side aisles ; the ceiling is 34 feet above the floor ; the 
house itself, 73x90 feet, from which two towers project, one eighty feet high, 
and the other terminating in a beautiful lancet spire, 175 feet high, with 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



101 



gables surmounting the bell-tower. There are three entrances, one central, and 
one from each tower. The facade is very beautiful ; the two arcades of five 
arches, the tower, 17 feet high, and the upper, crowned with a moulded cor- 
nice, supported by a corbel course, are surmounted by a foliated cross, 77 feet 
from the ground. 

OUR CHXJRCUES — THE FIRST BAPTIST. 

This handsome building stands at the junction of Congress and Wilmot-streets, 
among a large chxster of public-buildings worthy of attentive consideration, and 
opposite Lincoln-Park — no great things to be sure — but still a Park, and the 




^'*m!uciuseee&-tt 



FIRST BAPTIST-OHUBCH. 



only Park we have, or are likely to have, till we rope in the Deering-woods — 
with a handsome fountain, concrete walks, and a suggestion of trees, which, 
after a few years, will make it something to be proud of, "whether or no." 
Originally organized 1801 — re-organized, Dec. 12, 1866. 

It can seat over one thousand. 

Wm. II. Shailer, D. D., pastor, one of our foremost preachers and scholars, 
29 Pearl-street. 

This growing, apostolic church, had its origin with not more than half-a 
dozen devout seceeders from the Congregational-churches in Portland, and the 
neighborhood, about 1798. They met socially at the house of Mr. Joseph Tit- 
comb, Federal-street, near the Friend's brick meeting-house — on the opposite 
corner indeed. Many were converted, and in 1799, the rooms becoming too 



102 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

strait for tliem, tliey secured a scliool-house, on Union-street. After this, in 
1801, Mr. Titcomb having been licensed to preach, they organized as the First 
Baptist-church, and removed to a third-story hall, on Middle-street, and Mr. 
Titcomb, having been ordained, they built for themselves, a one-story meeting 
house, on Federal-street — large enough to hold about 600 — and dedicated it 
in July, 1803; and at last, July 11, 1811, a larger house was built on Federal 
street, greatly improved in 1845, and at last, burned to ashes in the great fire. 

For pastors, they had the following, up to the days of Dr. Shailer, all of them 
devout men, fearing God, and preaching with earnestness and fervor, and some 
greatly distinguished. 

Rev. Thomas B. Ripley, following the Rev. Josiah Convers, and the Rev. Caleb 
Blood, Rev. Ebenezer Thrasher, Rev. George Leonard, Rev. John T. McGin- 
ness. Rev. James F. Chaplin, Rev. Luther F. Beecher, Rev. Jacob B. Scott, 
and then came Dr. Shailer, who entered upon his duties in March, 1854, 
more than twenty years ago, one of our ablest and best men, whose work 
in this portion of the Lord's vineyard, has been signally blessed. When 
he took upon himself the great trust, there were but 219 members. Dur- 
ing his pastorate, up to 1871 — we have no later report for reference — 335 
were added; 155 by baptism and 163 by letter — the deaths, and changes by 
withdrawal, leave now a membership of 341. 

After the great fire, measures were taken for building a new church, worthy 
of their present organization, and in June, 1867, the corner-stone was laid, and 
after many delays and interruptions, the present substantial and beautiful 
building, was completed and dedicated, July 1, 1869, just four years from the 
date of the very last service in the old sanctuary. The whole cost of building, 
land, furniture, organ, &c., was over $62,000 — $6000 of which were obtained by 
the Burman circle, a society of earnest, faithful women, who insisted on the 
privilege ; Mrs. Wm. H. Shailer, president. Miss Emma S. Robinson, secretary, 
and Mrs. L. A. Chandler, treasurer. 

OUR AUTHORS — SIMON GREENLEAF. 

This learned and excellent man, who stood in the foremost rank of our first 
lawyers for a generation or two, and was then translated to Cambridge, where 
he became Royall-Prof essor on Law, compiled for us no less than nine volumes 
of Maine-Reports, 8 vo., which are in high estimation among all the lawyers of 
our land. Miss Morrill sent forth one book only, Blacklyn-Swamp ; J. O'Don- 
nell, the Juryman's Guide. Rev. Cyril Pearl contributed "Youths' Book," on 
the mind, 12 mo., and Spectral- Visitants, 12 mo. Rev. C. Soule, Questions on 
Upham's Mental-Philosophy. S. Putnam, Introduction to Analytical-Reader, 
18 mo. Wm. D. D. Warren, School-Geography and Atlas, Household-Conse- 
cration and Baptism, Rev. C. C. Burr, Noel Ronello, 175 pp., and Discourse 
on Revivals, 8 vo. D. C. Colesworthy, My Minister, Sketches of the Character 
of Rev. Charles Jenkins, 1833, 18 mo., and many other works, of which an ac- 
count has already been given. Rev. George Quinby, Sermons and Prayers by 
fifteen Uuiversalist-clergymen, pp. 350, 12 mo. Daniel D. Smith, Lectures on 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 103 

Domestic-Duties, 192 pp. 12 mo. Mrs. D. Reed, Wild Flowers, 9G pp. 12 mo. 
Kev. L. L. Sadler, Lectures on the prophecy of Daniel, Catechism on Matthew's 
Gospel, in two parts, 18 mo., and Sermon on Social Alliance. Rev. Jason Whit- 
man, Young Man's-Assistant, 394 pp. 18 mo., Young Ladies'-Aid, 304 pp. 18 
mo., Helps for Young-Christians, 192 pp., H2 mo., The Sunday-School 82 pp. 18 
mo., and Discourses on the Lord's-Prayer, 240 pp. 18 mo. E. B. Fletcher, 
Man-Immortal, The National-Book of the Sabbath, 1861, 144 pp. 18 mo. Benj. 
Kingsbury, Jr., Maine-Townsman and Probate-Manual, both admirably suited 
to a common want. William Smith, New Elementary-Algebra. Moses Saw- 
yer, Lieutenant Colburn — a novel. William Willis, Documentary-History of 
the State of Maine, History of Portland, Law and Lawyers of Maine, {with 
omissions.) Allen H. Weld, Progressive-Grammar, Progressive-Parsing-Book, 
New-Grammar, Latin-Lessons and Reader. E. P. AVeston, Northern-Monthly. 
Voices of Heart and Home. J. M. Gould, History of 1-10-29 Regiments, said 
to be a capital affair in its way. Rev. S. M. Putnam, Prayers from the Scrip- 
tures, Old-Divines and tlie Poets, 272 pp. 12 mo. P. W. Plummer, The Car- 
penter' s-Guide, with plates, 72 pp. 8 vo. Mrs. C. W. D. Strout, Slippery-Paths, 
illustrated. William Warren, D. D., These for Those, Our Indebtedness to Mis- 
sions, 420 pp. 12 mo., Twelve-Years with Children, 324 pp. 16 mo. William 
Wirt Virgin, Supplemental-Digest of Maine, (a model in its way,) 620 pp. 8 vo., 
Vol. 57 Maine-Reports, 660 pp. 8 vo., Vol. 58, ditto, 676 pp. 8 vo., Maine Civil 
Officer, 2d, 644 pp. 12 mo., a laborious, faithful and trustworthy guide. Of 
John Neal, we have nothing more to say just now, though a volumnious writer 
on many subjects. 

rOETLAND KEROSENE OIL-COMPANY. 

These works are in Cape-Elizabeth, at the soutlierly end of Vaughan's-bridge, 
and occupy over two acres. Capital $209,000. Kerosene, naptha and paraffine 
are manufactured. Four million gallons of kerosene are the yearly product, 
and of tlie other articles mentioned, enough to supply the market. Francis 
McDonald, president; H. N. Jose, treasurer. 

fuller's varnish-factor v. 

Varnishes of a siiperior quality are turned out by this company, and find 
their way lo all parts of the country. Depot 208 Fore-street. A. P. Fuller, 
proprietor. 

OUR CONSULS. 

Henry John Murray, Her Britannic-Majesty's Consul for Maine and New 
Hampshire. 30 Exchange street. 

George H. Starr, Her Majesty's Vice-Consul for Portland. 30 Exchange 
street. 

Tomas Lozano, Consul for Spain. Corner Middle and Union-streets. 

Andrew Spring, Consul for the Argentine-Republic. 15 1-2 Exchange-street. 



104 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

OUR PAIXTEKS — MBS. ELIZABETH MURBAY. 

We have recorded this fine artist among our painters, not for having been 
born or bred here, but because here she painted her first pictures, after her 
arrival from the East, and long before she came out in Boston or New-York, 
where she seems to have been greatly valued, and well understood. 

Mrs. Murray is the wife of our British Consul, Henry John Murray, Esquire, 
and a daughter of the celebrated Thomas Heaphy, engraver, and painter also 
in water-colors, like his daughter, whose achievements are all — portraits and 
cabinet-pieces — all in water-colors, but harmonious, rich, and sometimes, 
gloriously treated, with all the depth and strength of oil. Her gatherings in 
the South of Europe, and the East, of costumes and characters, have enabled 
her to throw off with astonishing facility, a large number of pictures, including 
some that have gone abroad. 

Her father may be remembered, by collectors, at least, as the artist who 
painted Queen Caroline, the Princess Charlotte, Prince Leopold, the Duke of 
Wellington, and more than fifty field officers in one piece, the engraving of 
which, is well known among both amateurs and connoisseurs. 

OUR LUMBER TRADE. 

Heretofore, and from our earliest history, Portland has done a very large, 
and of late, until within a few years, when her West-India shipments began to 
fall off, a prodigious lumber-business. And now, notwithstanding the troubles 
in Cuba, and the vague misapprehensions that prevail concerning our reciproc- 
ity negotiations, it has begun to revive. 

It seems by official reports, that in the month of August, this year, we have 
exported to ports in the West Indies, five million six hundred and forty-five 
thousand feet of lumber — more than we ever before sent from this port in any 
one month, even when the Saccarappa and other mills, now extinct, were in 
full blast. And now we have the following new sources of supply: 

On Commercial street— the Bethel Steam Mills Co., 338; Milan Steam Mills 
Co., 230; Mowe, Cole & Benson, 332; Edwin Clement & Co., 272; Holyoke, 
Benson & Co., 336; R. Deering & Co., 292; Cummings, Leavitt & Widber, 220; 
C. H. Merrill, 244; C. E. Deering & Co., 250; C. S. Clark, 270; S. M. Smart, 
268; Norton Mills Co., 30G; J. Hobson, 292; H. Bullard, 270; Richardson & 
Cross, 174; S. W. Larrabee & Son, 194; W. H. Walker & Co., 242; L. Taylor, 
175; S. C. Dyer, 157; Winslow & Coombs, 219; E. T. Patten & Co., 270; Em- 
ery & Fox, 238. Berlin Mills Co., L. T. Brown, W. W. Brown, Berlin Mills 
Wharf; Perkins, Johnson & Co., Sturdivant's Wharf; A. Edmands, 18 Preble 
street; Doten Brothers, Cross street; C. K Delano & Co., Fore street. 

Most of these are large dealers, and many are shippers. Commercial-street, 
you see, is crowded Mith companies and firms wholly given to the lumber busi- 
ness, the history whereof, had we space, we should be glad to give somewhat in 
detail ; but one thing may be said, and we say it in all seriousness and with 
large experience, that in farming regions, where land is tolerably good, and 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



105 



markets within reach, lumbering impoverishes, instead of enriching a people. 
Up to their middles in water half the year, and freezing the other half, and not 
always quite sober, their farms are neglected, their fences are allowed to tum- 
ble out of line, their school-houses are the merest rattle-traps, and their churches, 
habitations and highways a reproach to the neighborhood. But after the 
forests are thoroughly cleared, even to the saplings, then we have school-houses, 
and churches, roads, bridges and farms, cottages and gardens to be proud of. 




CO>GKESS SQUAKH, UN I\ KKS A LIST CUCKCII. 

Nevertheless, the lumber-trade has, on the whole, proved a mine of wealth for 
us. 

OUK CHURCHES — THE FIRST UNI VERS ALIST-SOCIETY. 

This thriving denomination, which seemed struck with paralysis for a time, 
after the final departure of the Rev. Ilosea Ballou, in 1814, began to flourish 
anew, with renewed vigor, within the last five-and-twenty years. 



106 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

The first gathering of Universalists, after the coming of John Murray to the 
new world, according to the Rev. Mr. Gibbs, the present pastor, was early in the 
present century, in a cooper' s-shop, at the foot of Mountfort-street. 

After this, they tried to borrow a church — or the privilege, at least, of worship- 
ing their heavenly Father, according to their conscientious belief, in some one 
of the many churches already up. Application was made for the Rev. Hosea 
Ballou, from Portsmouth, to be allowed to appear in the pulpit, while he was 
on a missionary tour through this neighborhood. But no — one Baptist deacon 
declaring, he had rather see the devil walk up the aisle. Even school-houses 
■yvei'e locked and barred against him. 

At last however, the late Judge Freeman, father of William Freeman, offered 
him a shelter in his large house, nearly opposite the Second-Parish church. 
The rooms were crowded, and the gathering outside, somewhat portentous. 
His subject was "The uncharitableness of Sectarianism," and the discourse 
itself was undoubtedly both sharp and scorching — if not altogether satisfactory 
to some of the outsiders. 

Then they had Rev. John Brooks, who held forth in the Episcopal-church — 
in School, now Pearl-street. After having tried in vain to purchase this church, 
in vain — because, by a condition of the original grant, the land could not be 
alienated from the Episcopalian denomination, they had their preaching in a 
school-house, nearly opposite the Third-Parish church, in Back, now Congress 
street. 

Here, early in 1821, the Rev. Russell Streeter, preached for the first time in 
Portland. Next an effort was made for the purchase of the Third-Parish 
church, but the negotiations were put a stop to, by some of the Second-Parish. 

Whereupon, the friends of Universalism took fire, banded themselves to- 
gether, published a "Statement of their faith," organized anew, and built a 
house for the Lord, which was ready for dedication on the 15th of August, 1821. 

It was of one-story, seventy-five feet by forty-four, with a superficial area of 
3600 feet, containing eighty-two pews, with seats for 300 persons, and costing 
about $6000. 

Then came the war, of which we have had occasion to say a word heretofore. 
Dr. Payson, and Dr. Nichols, who agreed in little else, went hand and heart 
against brother Streeter, who, on his part, having established the Christian 
Intelligencer, went into the conflict, with all the ardor of early manhood, tooth 
and nail. 

In 1827, Mr. Streeter resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. John Bisbee, jr., 
of Hartford, Conn. — a truly pious, faithful and eloquent man, who died in 
1829, having testified in a truly christian spirit, against the arrogant sectarian- 
ism of the day. 

Then followed Rev. W. I. Reese, who resigned in 18.30 ; and then Rev. Menyies 
Rayner, of Hartford, Conn., who published the Christian Pilot, with a beetle 
and wedge. Having left the Episcopalians, he seemed to enter a new campaign 
with something of the fiery zeal of a new convert. Obtaining leave of 
absence for six months, in September, 1834, lie never returned. The smoke of 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 107 

the battle-field had cleared away, and probably this region was no longer desi- 
rable. 

In April, 1836, Kev. D. D, Smith became pastor; and in 1839 Kev. C. C. Burr, 
— of whom, as a preacher, the less we say, the better. He resigned in Decem- 
ber, 1841, and in March, 1842, Rev. L. L. Sadler, succeeded him, and in Janua- 
ry, 1854, Rev. C. R. Moore, of Watertown, Mass., accepted a call, and served 
till 1800, when he gave up, on account of his health ; and then they had Rev. E. 
0. Bolles, of Boston, a remarkable man, with a wide range of scholarship and 
scientific acquirements ; and a new meeting-house on High-street, was secured 
January, 1805. 

Mr. Bolles was called to another field in 1809, and in October following. Rev. 
W. E. Gibbs became their pastor, .and on the "fiftieth anniversary of the First 
Universalist Church," gave a pamphlet history, from which most of the fore- 
going items have been gathered. From all that we hear and see of Mr. Gibbs, 
we feel sure that our brethren of the Universalist faith will have no occasion 
for regretting the services of his predecessors. 

PORTLAND GAS-LIGHT-COMPANY. 

Incorporated in 1849 ; organized Jan. 1st, 1820. Works on West Commer- 
cial, near foot of Clark street. Mains are laid for nearly twenty-five miles, 
through our principal streets. Capital $350,000, of which the city owns 
$85,000. E. H. Davies, president ; J. T. McCobb, treasurer. 

STAR MATCn-COMPANY. 

In 1809, the firm of Smith & Jordan, purchased all the patents of the Star 
Match-Company, and their property on Kennebec-street. In October, of the 
same year, their buildings and machinery, were destroyed by fire. 

In 1870, the company set up a new factory on Commercial street, wholly of 
brick and iron, with concrete floors, 110 by 00 feet, with a superficial area 
therefor, of 0000 feet for each floor. These matches are now shipped to our 
southern ports, to the West-Indies, to South-America, and the British-Provin- 
ces, beside supplying the whole region, and have the highest reputation. 

The fimi, now, is James C. Jordan, and A. & S. E. Spring. 

OUR SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL-HOUSES 

have long been a subject of justifiable pride with us, and, we may appeal with 
entire confidence to our past and present history, for evidence of our foresight 
and liberal provisions for those who are to take our places hereafter ; for what 
our children are now, that will our country be, after we have gone to our rest. 

THE PORTLAND HIGH-SCHOOL-HOUSE. 

Built of pressed-brick, with granite and free-stone trimmings, one-hundred- 
and-forty-feet by eighty, with wings on each side, which project eighteen by 



108 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

twenty-seven feet additional, is, on the whole, one of the most imposing 
and beautiful of all our public buildings. 

The arcade is forty-five feet in length, and supported by well-dressed granite 
pillars. The style of architecture is what we have agreed to call Roman, but 
wherefore, does not appear. The class-rooms are separated, so that the boys 
and girls are not turned loose together, nor allowed to intermingle, without re- 
strictions. On the first story, are eight large class-rooms, thirteen feet high ; on 
the second, are two high-school rooms, fifty-one by sixty-two feet each, and sev- 
enteen feet high, with library-rooms, etc. ; on the third story are the grammar 
schools. In the attic is a large hall for exercising, play, and elaborate drilling 
in bad weather. The building is heated throughout, and wholly by steam. 
The finishing is of chestnut. Mr. Harding was the architect — omitted hereto- 
fore, while speaking of the Fassets, whom we called, by mistake, brothers, 
while, in fact, they are father and son. All the arrangements are of a charac- 
ter to command our approbation, and the building itself, worthy of high 
praise. 

REAL-ESTATE AND BUILDING-COMPANY. 

Incorporated Feb. '71, for building houses and stores. Capital $200,000. 
John E. Donnell, president; John T. Hull, clerk and treasurer. 

BURGESS, FOBES & CO.'S WHITE-LEAD FACTORY, 

on Munjoy street, run by steam, yields paints of a character that has already 
secured a large and growing business. Their agency is at 80 Commercial street. 

CAHOON MANUFACTURING-COMPANY 

manufacture kerosene-burners and chemicals of decided reputation. Capital 
$100,000. Chas. W. Cahoon, treasurer, Cahoon-block, corner Myrtle and Con- 
gress streets. 

OUR CHURCHES — CHESTNUT-STREET METHODIST. 

For the substance of what follows, we are indebted to another hand : 

The first Methodist-sermon preached in Maine, was by the apostle and 
founder of methodism, in New-England, Rev. Jesse Lee, in a private-house, in 
Saco, Sept. 10, 1793. 

From Saco, he came to Portland, and on the 12th, preached to a small com- 
pany, in the dwelling-house of Theophilus Boynton, on jSTewbury-street. From 
Portland, Mr. Lee extended his journey eastward, as far as the Penobscot, 
preaching in various places, returning to Massachusetts, in October. In 1794, 
he repeated his visit to Maine, and on Friday, Nov. 7th, preached in the 
"Court-House, in Portland, to a large and attentive congregation." It does 
not appear, however, that Mr. Lee attempted to form a society, at either of his 
visits to Portland. 

The formation of the Portland-Circuit, took place in 1795, with Rev. Philip 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



109 



Wager as preacher, and this year, the first Methodist class in Portland, was 
formed. This class consisted of six persons, and this small band of heroic men 
and women, thus united in church-fellowship, entered upon their work, and in 
the midst of derision and persecution, without any house of worship, save such 
as their own dwellings afforded them, and without the means of bettering their 
condition, struggled on, with an occasional addition to their number, through 
nine years, until 1804, when their number had increased to eleven. 

This year, the prospect began to brighten. A friend of the society, Enoch 
Illsley, purchased and presented to them, the old church, formerly belonging to 




CHESTNUT- STREET, METHODIST, CHURCH. 



the Episcopalians, which was removed to Federal-street, and here, for the first 
time, the society had a home. 

This house occupied a site on Federal, between Exchange and Temple 
streets, and was used by the society, until the erection of their church on 
Chestnut-street. It was afterward used for various purposes, and finally as a 
stable, but, at length, gave way before the march of improvement, to make 
room for other buildings. The preacher, at this time, was Rev. Joshua Taylor, 
known everywhere, as Father Taylor, under whose labors, the society was 
greatly blessed. It increased, during the two years of his ministry, from the 
eleven above-named, to sixty-four, and the gathering had become so numerous 
as to require enlarged accommodations. 



110 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

A board of trustees was appointed, and the society entered upon the work of 
erecting a larger and more attractive church-edifice. 

After many embarassments and long delay, their efforts were successful ; and 
the first Methodist-Episcopal church building, on Chestnut-street, was com- 
pleted, and dedicated Feb. 17, 1811, Eev. Epaphras Kilby, the stationed preach- 
er, ofliciating. Here the society prospered greatly, and continued to increase in 
influence and in numbers. 

In 1826-27, the churches of the city were favored with a gracious revival, 
and the Methodist-church, under the pastoral-labors of Kev. E. Willey, received 
large accessions to its membership, and the house was so crowded, that it be- 
came necessary to enlarge it. Accordingly a neat and commodious chapel 
was erected on Cumberland-street, near the church, and that part of the church 
formerly used as a vesLry, was added to its seating capacity. It soon became 
apparent, however, that still more room must be provided, and accordingly the 
church on the corner of Pleasant and Park-streets, was erected. It was dedi- 
cated in the fall of 1828, by Piev. Stephen Lovell. 

Here a flourishing society was soon gathered, made up in part from members 
of the old church, and was always, while it existed, strong and flourishing, 
though somewhat involved in debt. It continued, till 1835, when the church 
edifice was sold to the Second-Unitarian society. 

The church on Chestnut-street was again greatly enlarged in 1836, and was 
soon filled to over-flowing. In 1844, the Ward-room, on Brackett-street, was 
procured, and a mission and Sunday-school organized, under the pastoral 
charge of Eev. A. M. Blake, succeeded in 1845, by Eev. Stephen Allen, and as 
the result of this enterprise, the Pine-Street church was erected, and dedicated 
in the autumn of 1846. The dedicatory services were condvicted by Eev. G. F. 
Cox, the pastor. This society has always been strong and flourishing, and is 
now — 1874, — making arrangements for the erection of a larger and more 
creditable church-edifice. 

In the meantime, the mother-church continued to grow in numbers, notwith- 
standing the repeated drafts made upon her membership, until 1851, when it be- 
came necessary to strengthen its stakes, and lengthen its cords in another direc- 
tion ; and accordingly, a chapel was erected on a lot situated at the comer of 
Congress and St. Lawrence-streets, generously presented by Dr. E. Clark, for 
the purpose. The chapel had a seating capacity of 300. This was a free chap- 
el, and when completed, was free from debt. It was dedicated by Eev. Geo. 
Webber, D. D. Sixty members were transferred from Chestnut-street church, 
and a society and Sunday-school organized, under the charge of Eev. Eaton 
Shaw, until the next session of the annual-conference, when Eev. W. F. Far- 
rington became the stationed preacher. Under his labors, the house soon be- 
came too small for the people, and an addition was made, at an expense of 
about twelve hundred dollars, and pews took the place of settees. The house, 
thus enlarged, would seat about four hundred and fifty persons, and here the 
society continued to worship, until 1868, when the church they now occupy, 
was dedicated, Eev. Wm. McDonald, a former pastor, preaching the sermon on 
the occasion. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. Ill 

In 1855 the old society purchased the lot they now occupy on Chestnut-street, 
and commenced the erection of their third house of worship. It was built at 
a cost of about sixty thousand dollars, and was dedicated July 8th, 1857. The 
old church was destroyed by fire April 2Gth, 1860. 

In addition to the above-named churches, a neat and commodious one has 
been erected on Peak's-Island, which has a small but flourishing membership. 
The tirst Sunday-school of the denomination was organized in 1822, in con- 
nection with the Chestnut-street church, and had for its first superintendent, 
the late Hon. James B. Cahoon. 

The following table will give the standing of the denomination in the 
city. May, 1874. 

Value of church property, - - $92,000 
Church members, including probationers, . . _ 1192 
Sunday-school officers and teachers, - - - - 146 
Sunday-school scholars, ------ 1280 

1426 
Volumes in library, -------- OQOO 

Preachers for 1874 — Chestnut-Street, Sylvester F. Jones: Pine-Street, James 
W. Johnston; Congress-Street, Chas. B. Pitblado; Peak's-Island, John 0. 
Perry. 

OUK BANKS, 

With a banking capital of about three-and-a-half millions, and deposits in. 
our savings banks, of more than eight millions, Portland is not exposed to any 
great business fluctuations. Most of the banks hereinafter-mentioned, are quite 
remarkable for the beauty of their banking-houses. 

FIKST NATIONAL BANK. 

H. I. Libby, president; Wm. E. Gould, cashier. One of our most favored in- 
stitutions, with a substantial, handsome building, three stories high, twenty- 
three by seventy-six feet, with French attic and French roof. The front on 
Middle-street, is of Connecticut free-stone, which is found to bear the climate 
changes, with all the dreaded alternations, of humidity and temperature, so de- 
structive to the same building-material at Xew- York, M'ithout injury; the dif- 
ference, after all, being between the horizontal and perpendicular surfaces, for 
it is the pavements, the steps, and side-walks, which crumble and flake off, 
both at New- York and here, while the upright walls undergo no material 
change ; not so great a change indeed, as the gneiss, where mica predominates, 
the syenite, where horn-blende is superabundant, or granite where felspar is 
too plentiful. It is furnished with iron columns on Middle-street, and the 
Plum-street side is built of pressed-brick, with free-stone trimmings. The 
banking-room is fifty-eight feet in length, with private rooms in the rear, for 
the accommodation of directors, oflicers, &c., &c. 



112 



POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



Well do I remember when we had but one bank here, and that, the Port- 
land-Bank, on the southerly side of Middle-street, not far from Exchange. It 
was a two-story, frame-building, standing end to the street. You entered from 
a front-yard, and the first thing you saw, as you mounted the steps, was an 
oval sign, hung upon the door, about eighteen inches by twelve, lettered on 
one side, bank open, and on the other, bank shut. 

And well do I remember when the half-cents came into use, and how 
the glittering temptation was too much for me, when I was set to counting 
them out of a small cask, and setting them forth, in piles of ten, by the 




FIRST NATIONAL BANK BLOCK. 

cashier, who happened to be my uncle — so that I appropriated a few, which 
I paid to some boys, for helping me pick strawberries, and got a walloping 
for my pains; my good uncle being a severe disciplinarian, perhaps for having 
been a school-master, before he undertook with his nephew. This was, I 
should say, about 1803, when I was under ten. 

No one, among all the changes you see, is more gratifying, or encouraging, 
than the difference between most of our large banking-houses, now, and those 
of an earlier day, when we were so easily satisfied. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 113 

OUR AUTHORS — MOSES GREENLEAF. 

The survey of Maine, with statistical tables, maps, etc., published here, by 
Stanley & Hyde, in 1829, is one of the most valuable works of our time. 

On referring to the Yankee of March 19, 1829, I find the following editorial 
testimony, which, at the end of nearly fifty years, may bear repetition. 

"The work is one of the most valuable ever produced in our country ; and 
take it altogether, it is one which no reasonable man would have expected to 
see, for at least half a century to come." And is it not so? Have we produc- 
ed anything better, or even as good, up to this hour? "It is more like what 
they bring forth on the other side of the water, among the wealthy and over- 
crowded communities of Europe, where men have leisure enough, and interest 
enough, to devote a life-time to the completion of a favorite undertaking, than 
what we have been accustomed to see in our country, where, instead of being 
paid for their literary toil, scientific, laborious, and extraordinary men have to 
work for nothing, and find themselves, whenever they meddle with author- 
ship." 

It was in the preparation of this map, in which our friend, John A. Poor, co- 
operated, that he acquired such a relish for statistics, and such opening capa- 
bilities for the two magnificent enterprises, which he undertook and carried 
through so triumphantly — the Atlantic & St. Lawrence-Eailroad, and the 
British & I^orth- American — for, after all, but for him, they would never have 
been thought of — and for the Portland, Eutland, Oswego & Chicago road, 
which narrowly escaped a most successful consummation, through a sudden 
providence, whereby he was translated, in the midst of his abounding useful- 
ness and great influence. 

But the review goes on to say, after abstracting whole pages from the book in 
relation to our climate, our geography, our resources, and our amazing capabil- 
ities, "these views it will be remembered, are not the views of a story-book, or 
a novel-writer ; they are those of a sensible man, a practical surveyor, and a 
long-sighted politician. Mr. Greenleaf is not an every-day man. * * 
* * * * We have a country to be grateful for, and proud of, and 
the sooner we know it the better ; our school-books ought to embody such 
truths." 

CLIMATE OF PORTLAND. 

The average temperature, from observations, taken at sunrise, noon and sun- 
set, for a period of thirty years, according to Mr. Beckett, were as follows : 



January, 


20 


Fahrenheit. 


July, 


66 


Fahrenheit. 


February, 


21 


(( 


August, 


64 




March, 


28 


<( 


September, 


56 




April, 


33 


(( 


October, 


45 




May, 


44 


<< 


November, 


34 




June, 


60 


(< 


December, 


24 





With few mosquitoes, and for a short time only, no cockroaches, and no 



114 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

"chintzes," or bed-bugs of our own breeding, with cool nights in summer — and 
winter — and with capabilities for sea-batliiug, almost unequalled, what is to 
hinder Portland from becoming one of the largest and most delightful watering 
places in the world ? 

Lincoln Park, by the way, a part of the "lungs" we have no immediate occa- 
sion for, situated as we are, on a ridge of land, all open to the sea on one side, 
and to the White-Hills on the other, has an area of 108,530 feet, or something 
less than two and a half acres. Within the city limits, the greatest elevations 
are Bramhall's Hill, 175 1-2 feet, on Munjoy, 161 feet, and the lowest point on 
the ridge is 57 feet. 

MOKE ITEMS. 

WTiile going through the press, great changes have begun, and large under- 
takings have been set on foot among us, which must not pass without a word 
of notice. For example : 

At a meeting of the church-members and parish of the Pine-street church, 
called with a view to build something worthier of the society, subscriptions 
were opened on Monday evening last, which resulted in raising fifteen thou- 
sand dollars, and last evening $5222 were added, and a promise from our towns- 
man, Mr. William Deering, now of Chicago, of no less than five thousand dol- 
lars, with his long accustomed liberality in the cause of religion — making 
over twenty-five thousand dollars to begin with — so that we may look for a 
building worthy of the cause. 

And by the papers, it will be seen that we have just sold the last of our public 
lands, originally amounting to millions of acres. When we began taking ac- 
count of stock, and well-timbered townships became lawful tender in business 
transactions, and will become of priceless value hereafter, though settling lands 
may not rise to their proper level for a generation or two, notwithstanding our 
recent discoveries in the Aroostook region, of unmistakable importance, relat- 
ing to the productive power of lands heretofore deemed worthless. We have 
lately discovered also that our si^ruce and hemlock and other growths, which 
are flourishing where the pine growth has wholly disappeared, is worth more 
than the pine growth itself ever was, though not many years ago, spruce and 
hemlock were not worth bringing to market, except here and there, under very 
favorable circumstances, and for special purposes. 

The total amount of these land sales, just made by auction, at Bangor, is 
$145,553.63. And now the State has no public domain worth mentioning. Of 
the millions of acres she once owned, all has gone into the market, with cer- 
tain reservations for school-houses, highways, and other like purposes ; and we 
have no further need of a land-agent, although most carefully provided for in 
the very outset of our career as a State. 

Timber lands in Oxford, Piscataquis, and Aroostook, sold for 35 1-2 cents the 
acre, and from that up to $1.30 ; the right to cut timber till 1884, on K. 16, Som- 
erset, sold from 20 1-2 to 31 1-2 cents ; right to cut on reserved lots in Aroostook, 
Franklin and Penobscot, at from 27 cents to $1.75 per acre. Among the pur- 



POETLANB ILLUSTRATED. 



115 



chasers who were really in earnest, was Mr. G. F. Foster, who absorbed 1C,000 
acres on Township 4, E. 5, north of Bingham's Kennebec purchase. 

OUK BANKS — TUE CASCO NATIONAL. 

The Casco National, situated in the rear of Casco-Bank block. Middle-street, 
with entrance through passage-way, ten feet wide. Building of brick, 42xG0 




CASCO BANK BLOCK. 

Banking-rcona, 40 foet square, 20 feet up to the plates, with open hip 
showing the beams and rafters, at the apex of which, 28 feet from the 
is a circular sky-light of ground glass, six feet in diameter. In the rear 
of the banking-room are the directors' -room, 16 feet square, the cashier' s-room, 
19 feet square, and a wash-room, 6x9. Between the directors' and cashier's 
rooms, are the money and book-vaults, as strong as brick and iron, and all the 



feet, 
roof, 
floor 



116 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

improved locks can make them. The counters are so arranged that the opera- 
tives are within a hollow square, with entrance to the vaults, directors' and 
cashier's rooms in the rear. The finish is of black walnut, highly polished. The 
ceiling is plastered between the rafters, and beautifully frescoed in panels. The 
banking-room is lighted by windows on three sides. The Casco-block on Mid- 
dle-street, is of Hallowell-granite — gneiss, fifty-five feet front, and four stories 
high. 

Well do I remember when the Casco-Banking-house, was only a small room 
in the second story of a low brick building, one of the three or four in a block, on 
Middle-street, and nining from the corner of a narrow entrance, to Burnham's, 
after awhile, Mitchell' s-tavern, erected I should say about 1810, with rickety, 
wooden stairs, running up outside, like what we used to see leading to law-offices 
In Chicago or Cincinnati, one of which, our townsman, Bellamy Storer, occu- 
pied in the day of his glory, and before he became a judge. 

And now, that same Casco banking-company, occupy, as may be seen by the 
plate, one of the handsomest piles of architecture among us, built of finely 
dressed, and very superior stone, resembling white marble, though much better 
on many accounts, especially in case of fire. Of this liberal institution, Samuel 
E. Spring, one of our out-of-town growths, is president, a man of remarkable 
energy and forethought; and William A. Winship, cashier; capital, §800,000. 

GREXVIL.LE MELLEJf.' 

While giving a hurried sketch of this fine fellow, I had occasion to speak of 
his young and beautiful wife, with whom, by the way, most of us popinjays 
were dead in love ; and now, on opening a volume of the Yankee for another 
piirpose, I come upon the following paragraph, which brings husband and wife 
before me, just as I saw them last, forty-five years ago, in their quiet and 
soothing little home at ISTorth Yarmouth. Shall I re-publish it ? 

"But the other day — not more than six months ago, Grenville Mellen was a 
husband and a father, in the full enjoj^ment of everything that such a man 
would care for, and every prospect before him that a reasonable man would 
yearn after. To-day, (June 4, 1829,) he is wifeless — childless. A little 
daughter, a first and only child — the flower of his heart, was transplanted be- 
fore his eyes, in the siimmer-time, of last year, and instantly the seeds of death, 
which are scattered through the whole family and kindred of his yoimg and 
beautiful wife, waiting only for the wind and rain of the sky— or the sighs 
and tears of earth — to be developed, sprang up in her bosom, and to-day, she 
is no more. What are such men to do under such overwhelming sorrow ? Are 
they to give up in despair — to lie down forever in the dust; or shall they wake 
up in renewed strength, resolved to convince the world that there is, indeed, a 
prerogative in genius — a divine spirit in what is called poetry — the spirit of 
manhood, of resignation, and of power." 

Is it not very true, that many of these every-day happenings lie "too deep for 
tears?" 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



117 



OUR BAXKS — TUE CANAL NATIONAL. 



Now SO Stately aud imposing, of wlucli, with the annexed cut before you, 
you must judge for yourself, was, not long ago, on Union-street, occupying the 
ground-floor of a brick-building, which, for some reason or other, we called our 
AtheuiBum, a strange, out-of-the-way place for business-men, though, to be 
sure, people who visited the i3ublic-library over-head, knew where to look for it, 




CAXAL, 15AKK BLOCK. 

on emergency; William W. Thomas, president — a town-bred man of business 
late mayor, and one of the most enterprising among us, though exceeding cau- 
tious and circumspect; B. C. Somerby, cashier ; capital, $600,000. 

OUR PORTLAND HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 

We have just gone through with an exhibition of our fruitage and flowering, 



118 PORTLAND ILLUSTBATED. 

topped off with a pomological feast, given by our Portland association to the 
Maine Pomological Society, and truly, it maybe said, have astonished ourselves. 
In 1859, there were but two graperies, and two green-houses in Portland. To- 
day, says Mr. Hersey, the president, they may be counted by scores. 

Such apples, we venture to say, were never before seen at exhibition or show, so 
beautiful, so large, and of so many different kinds. Maine used to be celebrated 
for sound apples, and for a few high-flavored, though not large varieties, 
even when the russets, the greenings, and the Newtown pippins were supplying 
the country, and going abroad by cargoes. And our pears — what shall we say 
of them ? And of our grapes ? One member, Mr. George W. Woodman, sent 
in twenty different kinds of pears, the result of careful selection and treatment 
for a few years only, and might have sent fifteen or twenty more, if he had 
thought it worth while ; and other members furnished a large variety of deli- 
cious and beautiful specimens. And the grapes, the black Hamburgs, Isabellas, 
Catawbas, Delawares, and other kinds, were abundant, luscious and healthy; 
all going to show what Maine is capable of doing, and what our citj^, and Ban- 
gor, and the Kennebec region, have already done toward arousing our farmers, 
and begetting a generous enthusiasm for fruit-culture, and especially for that 
of apples — the best in the world, all things considered ; for, rightly treated, 
many varieties are almost imperishable, in appearance at least; large, beautiful, 
souud and hearty. 

And then, we had the flowers, — the poetiy of earth — heaps upon heaps, 
glowing, fragrant, and almost shedding their colors upon the atmosphere. Po- 
etiy we call them — beds of poetry and baskets of poetry — because, holding 
the same relation to our cabbages, beets, and other substantials, that singing-birds 
bear to roast beef and mutton, that poetry bears to every-day prose, they are re- 
garded by the unthinking as useless, and comparatively Avorthless, although 
such is the refining and elevating influences of their loveliness and fragrance, 
and infinite variations of color, that even the dullest of clod-hoppers will think 
better of people who live in farm-houses or cottages, with roses, and honey- 
suckle, and morning-glories, and woodbine or ivy clambering over the windows 
and roof, instead of sun-flowers and hollyhocks, and thistle-blows, white-weed, 
and buttercups, or dandelions encumbering the front-yard. On the whole, 
therefore, we may well thank God and take courage, for having opened our 
eyes at last, though rather late, to the resources within our reach, and the ca- 
pabilities we are to be answerable for hereafter. Say what we will of grapes, 
and pears, and apples, and plums — all excellent in their way, it must be ac- 
knowledged — flowers are the best educators we have ; appealing to no vulgar 
want, or appetite, or inclination, they enter into our being like a perfume, and 
appeal to our sense of the beautiful, without regard to usefulness, or nutrition, 
or market-value, like the singing of birds, the tinting of sea-shells, the spatter- 
ed gold, or melted rubies, and emeralds, and piu-ple shadows we see on the plu- 
mage of birds and butterflies. And this, our people are beginning to feel and 
to lay to heart — even our farmers — who, if they would keep their daughters, 
and humanize their sons, must give them flowers — must, I say, whatever they 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



119 



may do about apples, or grapes, or pears; or, what is called sentiment, will be 
confined to the dwellers of cities — and vegetable-poetry will be unknown 
among our laborious cultivators of the soil. The cottages of England, even the 
lowliest, are often embowered in roses and clambering vines. In the South of 
Fi'ance, it is the same, and even among the rough habitants of Canada, they 
have little enclosures in front of their miserable houses, crowded with flowers. 



OUK BAXKS — MERCHANTS NATIONAL. 

Designed by Mr. Stead, finished in black-walnut and maple, with solid oak 




MEKCUA>T.S HANK liLOfK. 



doors, and sliding iron-doors — Merchants National on ground floor; Bank 
of Portland, and the National Traders', on the second-floor. 

Formerly occupying the ground-floor of an old-fashioned, unattractive, brick 
building, on Exchange-street, no more to be compared with the present four 
story structure, of Albert-stone, where the institution is now flourishing, than 
"Satyr to Hyperion." Near it, on the other side of an alley, not four feet wide, 



120 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

running between Jones' s-row, and the Neal-block, was the Maine-bank, now no 
more. Jacob W. McLellan, president — a native Portlander, for many years a 
sea-captain, then mayor, and then president of ovir celebrated Portland Com- 
pany; Charles Payson, cashier, A very beautiful, and richly ornamented 
banking-house, built of Albert-stone, which greatly resembles the celebrated 
Caen-stone, so much used in the palaces of London and Paris, with brown free 
stone for relief. Capital $600,000. 

OUK MILITAKY ORGANIZATIOISrS 

must not be overlooked, though, with our limited space, we cannot undertake 
to do them justice. 

Let it be remembered, that Portland furnished altogether, about five thousand 
men for the last war — the war of the Kebellion — and paid bounties amount- 
ing to $423,970, as we have had occasion to state before, witli interest on a much 
larger sum, after the State equalization. But of our own people, Portland fur- 
nished 2500 men, of which 421 died : 194 of disease, 190 of wounds, 23 in Rebel 
prisons, 14 by accident, and pi'obably since the war, 100 more liave died, from 
causes which arose during the Rebellion. Of these, there were one lieutenant 
colonel, 1 army-surgeon, 1 navy surgeon, 3 officers in the navy, 12 captains in 
the army, 14 lieutenants, 32 sergeants, 1 non-commissioned staff officer, 2 mu- 
sicians, 300 privates and 15 sailoi's. 

Before the Rebellion burst upon us, like a thunder-clap, we had only five 
companies of infantry, organized under State authority, viz., the Mechanic 
Blues, the Light-Infantry, the Rifle-Corps, the Light-Guards, and the Rifle 
Guards. All these companies lost no time in offering their services to the 
State, which were accepted, and tliey all achieved a most honorable record in 
the service, but were so cut up, and so scattered and decimated by the terrible 
vicissitudes to which they were exposed, that the organizations were lost for 
awhile. But wlien the war was over, on tlie 19th of February, 1SG9, the Me- 
chanic-Blues were re-organized, under their original grant, Avhich was dated 
June 21, 1807. They have now for their captain, Cljarles J. Pennell, a zealous, 
trustworthy leader, and every inch a citizen-soldier. 

The Light-Infantry were organized at an earlier period — that is, on June 6, 
1803, and re-organized June 1, 1868 — Jesse T. Reynolds, captain, another of 
our tried ones. 

The Portland-Cadets, were organized January 4, 1870, Neal D. Winslow, 
captain. 

The Sheridan-Cadets, were organized Sept. 17, 1872, Robert P. Somers, 
captain. 

The Portland Montgomery-Guards, were organized Oct. 20, 1872, Augustus J. 
McMahon, captain. 

The Portland Cadets were made up of the Portland High-school students, 
and for a time, were called the High-school Cadets, with John Anderson for 
captain, a fine, soldierly youth, and are now acknowledged for the best-drilled 
company of the State, holding the champion flag, presented to them by the 



PORTLAND ILLUSTBATED. 121 

city of Portland, July 4, 1872. And this, we may be sure, is no trivial distinction, 
our soldier-boys having a constitutional aptitude for military duties — when duty 
calls them to the field — and are never slow in preparation, nor ever backward 
in assuming a soldier's responsibility, at the first tap of the drum, or blast of 
the bugle. 

The Montgomery-Guards are Irish-Americans to a man, and they are all 
men. During the last Presidential canvas, they were known as the Greeley 
Guards, and were afterward organized under the title of the Montgomery 
Guards, and, of course, are not the boys to forget Montgomery, that glorious 
Irishman, who fell in storming the fortress of Quebec, if they should ever be 
called into the field. 

The Sheridan-Cadets, are another company of Irish- Americans, just ripening 
into manhood, and none being over twenty-one. 

With such material to begin with, ■what may we not hope from our Irish 
blood, in the day of tribulation ; for much as their fathers loved their country 
before they were driven away by wrong and oppression, it is certain that these, 
their sons, love their country as much — their country still, whether by ado^jtion 
or birth, and as Robert Emmett, and Wolfe Tone, and Richard Montgomery, and 
Alexander Hamilton struck, so will they strike for the rights of man — the 
right of self-government, and the right of going to heaven their own way, 
without hindrance or molestation. 

Go back to our early history — even to our earliest — and see how largely we 
are indebted to these Irish, of whom not a few of our people speak disparagingly 
at times. 

Go through the history of our Revolutionary-war, the war of 1812-1.5, of the 
Mexican-wars, our Indian-wars, and at last, of the rebellion, and see how largely 
we are indebted to these warm-hearted, blundering, headlong Irishmen, who 
are so much laughed at, and abused, now that the danger is over. To the Irish 
laborers, we owe much, for our canals, our highways and rail-roads, but to 
the Irish soldiers, infinitely more, almost as much, indeed, as England owes to 
the Irishmen of her great military organizations in every part of the world, 
where fighting is no longer play, and Wellingtons are no myth, any more than 
the Sheridans are with us. 

If we would know what our country owes to these Irishmen, and to these 
Northern soldiers, let us consider the habits of our people for a moment. The 
men of the South — our chivalry — or, as they would pronounce it, our shivalry, 
are quarrelsome and overbearing; and have always had military-schools, and a 
well-trained militia, and have always been familiar with fire-arms, rifle and pistol 
shooting, while we of the North, as a general thing, patient and submissive, 
up to a certain point, whether of native or foreign birth, are, and always 
have been, deplorably ignorant of arms, and averse to war and strife, with 
no military academies, no regular training, no drilling, and are called to- 
gether, but once or twice a year, only to be made more and more inefficient and 
helpless, at every meeting. Our miUtia-system, in its best days, until within 
the last five years, being a most oppressive and unrighteous poll-tax, from 



122 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

■which our wealthiest men always escaped, if not by exceptions on account of 
age, or some disqualifying infirmity, like dimness of sight or dullness of hear- 
ing, or a sluggishness of limb, or because of holding office, or being profes- 
sional, a school-master, a judge, or a minister of the gospel, as if one might not 
do for a chaplain, though afraid or unwilling to burn powder; and this, while 
the poor man, the every day laborer, to whom the loss of a day's work is a loss 
of the dinner for his family, and perhaps of sleep, was held to a strict discharge 
of his duty, and must either appear "armed and equipped, as the law directs," 
and lose a day or two, or pay a heavy fine. All things considered, therefore, 
the disadvantages under which we of the North labored, is it not wonderful 
that we escaped overthrow or annihilation ? — But we were not slaveholders, 
and our serfs were free-laborers, paid for their services, which, after all, ex- 
plains the great mystery. 

OUR BANKS — THE CUMBEELAND-NATIONAL. 

W. F. Milllken, president, another out-of-town growth, and quite of a piece 
with most of the leading men of our large cities, in all professions, and. in 
all kinds of business, who were trained in the country, and there learned the 
value of time, the worth of labor, and the importance of thrift, and frugality. 
Samuel Small, cashier; capital $250,000. Building but so, so — of pressed-brick 
with free-stone trimmings, and iron pillars. The bank still occupies chambers 
only, as it did before the fire. 

CUB INSUBANCE COMPANIES — MARINE, FIBE, LIFE, &C., &C. 

These companies are numerous, and without a single exception, we believe, 
trustworthy. 

The oldest of all our native institutions, is the Ocean-Insurance Company, IT 
Exchange-street, which has confined itself to sea-risks, hulls, cargoes, and 
freights, though, as originally organized, it was intended to do a fire business, 
also. Chas. M. Davis, president ; George A. Wright, secretary. 

OUB FIRE-INSUBANCE 

agencies, are very numerous, but all foreign, that is, of other States; and 
many, if not most of our largest and safest offices, are represented among us 
by the following officers. 

Barnes Brothers, 28 Exchange-street, representing fourteen companies, with 
assets of $10,000,000; K. W. Deering, 5 Exchange, one company, assets $1,000,- 
000 ; Dow, Coffin & Libby, nine companies, assets $20,000,000 ; Jeremiah Dow, 
67 Exchange, one company, assets $2,.500,000 ; John E. Dow and J. S. Palmer, 
1 Exchange, six companies, assets $12,000,000; J. M. Heath, 42 1-2 Exchange, 
three companies, $25,000,000; W. D. Little & Co., 49 1-2 Exchange, ten com- 
panies, assets $10,000,000 ; John W. Hunger, 156 Fore, five companies, assets 
$2,000,000; W. G. Kay, 190 Fore, two companies, assets $1,250,000; Rollins, 
Loring & Adams, eighteen companies, assets $50,000,000 ; Warren Sparrow, 96 



POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 123 

MiiUllo, throe companies, assets $2,000,000 ; Upham & Gardiner, 7 Exchange, 
six companies, assets $2,000,000 ; Joseph H. Webster, 84 1-2 Middle, two com- 
panies, assets $1,000,000. 

LIFE-INSUKANCE. 

And we have also represented among us, The Mutual-Benefit Life-insurance, 
which I, myself, had the pleasure of introducing here, immediately after its 
organization, a company which has wrought many changes in the whole 
system of Life-insurance, and has been, to say the least of it, astonishingly- 
prosperous. Mr. Warren Sparrow is the agent now. 

THE NEW-l'ORK MUTUAL, 

W. D. Little & Co., agents, was somewhat earlier in the field than the Mutual 
Benefit company, requiring all cash however, while the Mutual-Benefit and 
some other companies allow a credit of one half, on certain desirable and safe 
conditions. This company, one of the largest and most prosperous in the 
world, has accumulated a fund of $75,000,000. 

TUE KEW-ENGLAND MUTUAL, 

of which the late William Willis, was agent for many years, and then Mr. N. 
P. Deering, up to the time of his death, is now represented by J. M. Palmer. 

The ^tna, by A. G. Dewey; American Popular, by John B. Hudson; 
Charter Oak, by S. H. McAlpine; Equitable, by Roberts & Clark; Massa- 
chusetts-Mutual, by S. F. Merrill ; Merchants, by Aug. H. Ford ; Phoenix 
Mutual, by J. T. Reynolds ; Xorth America, by M. L. Stevens ; State-Mutual, 
by Dow, Coflin & Libby ; Travelers, by A. J. Chase. 

ACCIDE^-T INSURANCE. 

Is represented here by W. D. Little & Co., A. J. Chase, and Rollins, Loring 
& Adams. 

OUR BANKS — THE PORTLAND-SAVINGS. 

On Exchange-street. John B. Brown, president; Frank Noyes, cashier. 
Deposits with accumulated interest, over Jive millions. Decidedly one of the 
most prudent, and cautious, and at the same time, one of the most liberal in- 
stitutions of the kind, which we have any knowledge of. The president, 
a host of himself, a tower of strength — sagacious and prosperous, and the 
officers, managers, cashier, and assistant cashier, experienced, coiirteous and 
faithful men, their triumphant progress from the beginning, is no marvel. Our 
first Savings-bank was a melancholy failure ; both of those now in operation, 
are, in fact, our safety-valves, and worthy of entire confidence. 

And the building itself, including the block, which belongs to the bank, and 
was got under-way soon after the fire, is exceedingly beautiful, without being 



124 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



overloaded, or of extravagant pretensions. It is built of pressed-brick with 
Albert-stone trimmings, three stories high, with a tall, French-roof -but here 
you have it, and may judge for yourself. The Banking-house, with handsome, 
well-finished rooms, for the comfort and accommodation of the directors and 




'^/aj/im£i/iSS^ 



PORTLA^•D SAVOGS BANK BLOCK. 



Officers, occupies the whole ground-floor, on the nearest corner ; in the second 
story, the Gas Company, and law-offices, are established, and the upper 
story IS occupied as a hall, by all the Masonic bodies of the city, and there are 
three large, handsome stores on Exchange-street, running through to Market 

8tr66t« 

SOMETHING REMAEKABLE— FORETELLINGS AND THEIE FULFILMENT. 

On the 12th of March, 1828-nearly fifty years ago, there appeared in the 
Yankee, the following bold prophecies, and stinging reflections. I do not pre- 
tend to be a prophet, or the son of a prophet; but my friend. Gen. John Marshall 
Brown, who had been tumbling over a stray copy of that inestimable folio, the 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 125 

Yankee, has just called my attention to the following papers, which, after due 
consideration, I have concluded to re-publish, hoping that fifty years from now 
they may be again disinterred, and set a-ringing once more. It is entitled 
"Portland — the Future," and I have changed only here and there, a word or 
two: "We should like to ask our people, who appear to have spent a heap of 
money upon the streets and side-walks of the town, whether it has been profit- 
ably or worthily spent; whether, if it cost a thousand dollars to do a thing 
properly, there would be any real wisdom in appropriating but nine hundred 
and fifty for it? And whether it would be possible, in their opinion, to per- 
suade a stranger, who had been trapped here once by a rainy day in March, 
ever to run the risk a second time ; or in other words, whether they do or do 
not believe in the old proverb, "that a burned child dreads the fire." 

"As for ourselves, were we not born here, and rooted here, {rooting here, we 
should say, if we had not a mortal aversion to a pun,) we do not believe that 
we could be tempted by any reasonable bounty, to venture near such a congre- 
gation of sloughs, pit-falls, mantraps, slides, slippers, and leg-breakers (we de- 
sire to be particular, ) as abound here — here — in one of the most beautiful 
towns on the face of the earth, and capable, we are quite positive, all things 
considered, of being made more of, than perhaps any other town of America 
— after having once been caught in it, or kept in it by bad weather. 

"We do wish we could persuade our people to look into the truth of a few 
axioms, which require only to be stated to prove themselves. 

"We say that the character of a town is but another name for its wealth and 
prosperity." (N. B. Just here I should like to insert, that the character of a 
town determines the character of its people.) "And we say, moreover, that its 
character abroad — not at home; its character among its neighbors, and among 
travelers and strangers, — not among its own citizens and house-holders, or 
land-holders, will decide its prosperity for an age, if not forever. And we say 
also, that however much may depend upon its hospitality, the public spirit, the 
commercial spirit, or the wealth of a town, quite as much, if not more, depends 
upon its public-houses, public conveyances, roads, streets, and sidewalks ; and 
that either beauty of situation, or beauty of neighborhood, if rightly taken ad- 
vantage of, may be made a mine of wealth, a source of perpetual revenue. 
Just look at the situation of Portland. With landscapes on every side of it, 
sea-shores, sea-bathing, and sea-views at every man's door; with pictures on the 
earth, and pictures in the sky; water and woods, and hills, rivers and seas, and 
bridges and forts, a salt-water lake on one side, with the Wliite-Hills of ISTew 
Hampshire in full view of almost every house, and the high-seas on the other; 
and yet so abominably deficient in good streets, and sidewalks, or platforms, 
that for weeks and weeks every yeai-, it is hardly possible for next-door neigh- 
bors to visit each other, unless they go in a carriage, or swing themselves from 
door to door by a rope, without going over shoes in mud, or slumping half-leg 
deep into the snow and slush of the season. 

"As for ourselves, we are satisfied that more money is lost, in the shape of 
carriage-hire, shoe-leather, comfort, health, time, doctors' bills, &c., &c., every 



126 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

year, than woiald be required to keep the sidewalks of the whole town as neat 
as a breakfast-table." — But query — "If our young men go to a party, they must 
go in boots, or in shoes that unship ; and as for the women, they cannot go at 
all — they have to be carried and dropped at the door." 

"Would that our men of large property would bestir themselves — or die off — 
we don't care which. They are only in the way now, and if they could hear 
the whisper of the public, they would find it so. If they do not wake up from 
their apathy, the sooner they are off, the better. They have done all the good 
they were ever capable of. Good! — to be sure they have. But how? By 
looking to the future ? No — by laboring for themselves, and for themselves 
alone. By educating their children, by building up houses, and hoarding up 
wealth, and thereby preparing, in spite of their teeth, and as the cattle do that 
enrich the hills, or tread the clay for the hands of the potter — the very materi- 
al that our future statesmen are to work with, to endow with beauty and 
strength, or to shape for magnificent uses. If they had half the spirit of our 
young men, or if they would co-operate together, and avail themselves of the ad- 
vantages that lie within their grasp, they would live all the happier for it, and 
die all the richer, and Portland in ten years from to-day, would be a city of 
thirty thousand inhabitants." 

Some of these hints and suggestions were taken in good part, and now what 
are we ? Just look at our streets, and sidewalks, and public-houses, and public 
conveyances, our population, our wealth, and our business-resources. 

"But," says the writer, "our wealthy men ought to know, must know indeed, 
if they consider the matter in a way worthy of their reputed sagacity, that the 
value of their houses and stores, nay, of the very dirt they tread uj^on — their 
acres of earth, which they would retail from the apothecary-shop, if they had 
the power — is in exact proportion to the character of the place where they are 
situated, in the view of comparative strangers." 

"Let them watch the growth of the most inconsiderable village — nay, the 
first settlement or breaking up of the wilderness, let them go along with its 
history, step by step, till the former has become a great commercial-city, and 
the other is teeming with nations. It is the first traveler — it is the stran- 
ger that settles there first; the stranger that gives it a character with strangers, 
— who cares for the favorable testimony of the inhabitants? — they are all in- 
terested witnesses — the stranger that builds it up and gives it a name and a his- 
tory ; and the very day that the stranger avoids it, or bears testimony against it, 
is the very day from which its downfall may be reckoned. Ask yourselves the 
question. Do you not feel kindly toward that place, whatever it may be, where 
you spent your time agreeably, years and years ago ? And do you not speak 
bitterly of that place, whatever it may be, where you were treated unkindly, or 
spent your time disagreeably— though it was in your boyhood, ever so long ago ? 
And has not your influence, do you believe, hindered some person or other, in 
the whole course of your life, either from settling in, or visiting that place ? If 
so, it has probably lost much more than it ever gained by you, even though you 
were cheated by every man you had to do with, while you were there. Look 



POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 127 

at the history of the great cities of our earth, which, after rising from the 
deep, like meteors — John Milton says like exhalations — like meteors have dis- 
appeared, leaving their very neighborhood a desert. What has destroyed them ? 
The curse of the stranger. Who would trust a ship in a port charged with 
punic faith? Who would sleep in a land where the stranger is looked upon as 
lawful prey? The wreck-season on the coast of Cornwall, and the harvest 
reaped of travelers in the decrepit cities of Europe, have made both a by-word and 
a reproach everywhere. A few years more, and the harvest in the cities will be 
done with, and tHe posterity of the wreckers will be found only among the 
paupers of the land that gave them birth. Look at the history of Baltimore. 
See how it throve while it bore a high character abroad ; see what it has be- 
come now, with its mobs, its banditti, its pirates, privateers, and bankrupts. It 
is decidedly one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with a very intelli- 
gent, moral, and high-hearted community, and yet, an age may not restore to 
it the character it lost within a period of six years." P. S. But, God be 
thanked, is now restored, standing higher than ever. 

It is not the natural growth of a town we are to trust to — for if a town 
does not go ahead faster than the surrounding country, it goes backward. 
The population are always rowing against wind and tide. It cannot afford 
to he stationary for a moment. If a place he not attractive enough to hring 
the stranger to settle in it, we may he sure that it will not be attractive 
enough to keep those who are horn in it, and they it is, that form the true 
wealth of a country. The stranger will be fixed by that which is overlooked by 
the eye of one familiar with it. Turn to Portsmouth — deserted a few years 
ago by all her young men, as fast as they were able to get away, she had better 
been deserted by all her old men, with all their wealth into the bargain. So 
with Newburyport; and both atthe same time, were over-peopled with women, 
with well-educated, superior, handsome, unmarried women. It was a reproach 
to the country." — And how is it with Salem to-day? 

"Depend upon it, there is something wrong in tlie social system of every com- 
munity, where fine girls are left unmarried, especially in a country like this, 
where even yet, as it was in the days of Doctor Franklin, a second-hand wife, 
with a ready-made family, ought to be looked upon as a fair capital to be- 
gin with. It may appear strange at^first, but such is the fact, and after a little 
consideration, it will not appear strange, that though it must be harder to sup- 
port a family than yourself, it is generally done with more ease — we have 
uttered a queer paradox, but we shall not unsay it, for it is literally true. It 
would be often easier for a married man to support a family in a given way, 
than for a single man to support himself, in the same way. His neighbors 
have more faith in him ; they see him rooted as it were, among them ; his fam- 
ily are his bondsmen. They are so many pledges to the public for his good 
behaviour. And who that knows much of the human heart, would not prefer 
the endorsement of a good wife, with two or three healthy children, to that of 
most unmarried-men, for a promissory-note?" 

"We don't ask people who keep fifty, or a hundred thousand dollars lying idle, 



128 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

year after year, in the vaults of a bank, nor men who found theological institu- 
tions, and then buy up notes against poor debtors, that have failed, and are 
beginning the world anew, with a little family strapped on their backs — notes, 
with which to pay them for wash-stands that are bought by the score to give 
away ; but we speak to those who have not the courage to damn themselves so 
utterly ; to those who woiild be sorry to have their children rejoice over their 
death-bed." 

"But look at home! Do we not perceive that our young men who go abroad 
are attracted for permanent residences, only to the beautiful cities, or thriv- 
ing towns of our country ? If they go to New-Orleans, it is only to get rich 
enough to be able to leave it, and for what i^lace? for their native town? — no 
indeed, but for some town more celebrated; more beautiful, or more enterpris- 
ing. Ask anybody of experience, if it be not true, that they who have once 
left their native town, are more reluctant to return to it, than the stranger is to 
settle there, and this, in spite of all their supposed yearning after the home of 
their childhood, and in spite of all their oaths to go back, when they are able to 
keep a carriage, and make their old bare-footed playmates die with envy." 

"But there are people, who, if they see their money going in large quantities, 
and coming in small quantities, can never be made to believe, that after all, there 
may be a profit in the ojjeration ; just as there are those, who, if they lay out 
money, are never satisfied with any other return but money — health, strength, 
happiness, comfort, respectability, all these are nothing, if they cannot be scored 
off in pounds, shillings and pence, or reckoned by decimals. Give such men 
power, and they would never consent to the repairs of a side-walk, or a high- 
way, at the public cost, much less at their own. But why ? Because, forsooth, 
it would be imijossible to prove to them that the money they expend, will ever 
come back to them, in the shape of money. The whole town may prosper for 
it; it may be thronged with strangers and visitors, from every part of the 
world ; everybody may be able to live in comfort, and run about among the 
curiosities, without going over-shoes in mud, and yet, these ha'penny calcula- 
tors would never acknowledge, or never see that the money has not been wasted. 

But enough. Our town we are proud of. We know what it is capable of 
being made, and we have no patience therefore, with our people, when we 
look at our side-walks and thoroughfares, and see strangers plowing through 
them half-leg deep, on the way from their boarding-houses to the regular places of 
business. We are half inclined to stop them in the street, and advise them not 
to venture abroad without a balloon — or stilts, and a cork jacket." 

But reforms followed this startling appeal, and we began to travel dry-shod, 
after a city-government was established. 

And again, April 2, 1828, we have another article about Portland, which 
seems written for to-day. It is entitled ''Portland. JVfiat is everybody's 
business is nobody^s business. Ours is a land of steady habits, and this town is 
remarkable for severity of religious discipline — if not for morality. We have 
plenty of law to, but who cares for it? " — Look at our police-reports, and the 
staggering men, women and boys, we meet with at every turn, though not a 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 129 

drop of liquor is to be had this side of Moosehead-Lake, if we may believe a 
late mayor, and one of our highest authorities on the temperance question, 
and we have — it is pretended — prohibitory laws, and oflacers with the highest 
inquisitorial powers. 

"Boijs play bat-and-ball, at noon-day, in the most frequented streets, with 
windows all about, and horses continually passing. We have constables by the 
score, and yet nothing is done." Now, all this, be it observed, was in 1828,— 
How miich better is it now ? 

"Boys break into our dwelling-houses on the Sabbath-day, and steal whatever 
they can carry off; they break the windows of our sleeping-chambers, in pure 
sport; and they set fire to our dwellings at night, in a frolic. We have magis- 
trates, and constables, and judges enough and to spare; yet no inquiry is had, 
no complaint is made." Yet more: 

"Cart-loads of garbage, are left steaming and smoking, day after day 
on the only sidewalk of a large, wide-street, which is rendered impassible 
by the filth, and almost uninhabitable by the smell : we have citizens, and 
neighbors, and selectmen, and police-officers — yet these things are." 

Then follow a number of cases, in confirmation of all this — and then a 
proposition for a City-government, which soon followed, though it had been, 
refused over and over again. 

LATE OPERATIOXS ON THE GRAND-TRUJfK — CHAKGE OF GAUGE. 

We have had occasion to speak of this truly vast, generous, and well-managed 
institution, more than once already. 

But a gigantic operation of this Company, just completed with astonishing 
energy, promptitude and success, deserves honorable mention. 

For many years, there has been a war of gauges in this region. At one 
period, the broad gauge carried all before it; and most of us being unacquainted 
with its practical disadvantages, and having our whole attention fixed upon its 
apparent advantages — greater safety and greater carrying power — we denounced 
the narrow gauge, and resisted every proposed change, though it was evident 
enough that the narrow must yield to the broad, or the broad to the narrow 
gauge, throughout a line of twelve hundred miles. 

But within the last three years, our eyes have been opened, and the magnifi- 
cent operations of the Grand-Trunk, with its twenty-two hundred passenger 
and other cars to change, and yet leaving four thousand, four hundred broad 
gauge trucks to be dealt with. Of these, about sixteen hundred may be 
adapted to the narrow gauge, thus increasing the aggregate rolling-stock, by 
that number. An idea of the magnitude of this undertaking may be had, by 
considering that "the wheels of cars, standing at Point St. Charles, and packed 
closely together, end to end, would probably cover a space of ten acres, and 
stretched along a single line, loould cover a distance of from eight to ten miles. 
In addition to this, there were on the Anthabaska branch, on Friday night, 
Sept. 25, enough tn-oad gauge cars, packed end to end, to cover a distance of Jive 
miles.'" 



130 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

"This company," says the Montreal Gazette, from which the foregoing ex- 
tract is borrowed, "witliin the last two years, have expended, including addi- 
tions to rolling-stock, siding-accommodations, and the great bridge across the 
Niagara-river, at Buffalo, tioelve and a half million dollars." And now, they 
have changed along the whole line of twelve hundred miles, the broad gauge 
to a narrow gauge, as if by magic, having an army of laborers, stretching from 
Portland to Island-Pond, who did their part of the work almost in a day. 

"Of the importance of these improvements, to the efficiency and usefulness 
of this great route of trade and travel, it is difficult to make an adequate esti- 
mate. Not only will the line itself, be equal to a vast deal more work, but it 
will be able to extend its usefulness in all directions. Cars may be loaded here 
at Portland, with goods from Europe, and proceed to almost any poiiit in the 
West or No7'th-ioest, without interruption, and in the same loay, merchandise may 
be put on the cars at Montreal, and sent to Chicago or San-Francisco, without 
breaking bulk." 

Let us lay these facts to heart, and then publish them to the world, as by 
the sound of trumpets, until we are known everywhere, as the chief central 
depot in the great inter-oceanic thoroughfare, between the Old World and the 
New — the Atlantic and the Pacific. 

P. S. We cannot withold the following items, that have just appeared in 
the Argus, one of our half-dozen papers, which, to say the least of them, are 
entitled to entire confidence, in all such matters. Alike trustworthy, and 
careful, they deserve all we have said or can say of them, as business-papers in 
particular, to say nothing of their newspaper qualifications. 

"The advantages to follow from this change of gauge, can hardly be estimated. 
It is sufficient to know that a car-load of tea, silks or flour, from San-Francisco, 
can now be landed on our streets, ivithout change of gauge or break of bulk, and 
vice-versa, a car of European goods from Portland can be landed in San-Fran- 
cisco; and also that, with equal facility, goods can be moved to and from our 
city to every part of the United-States and Canada." 

OUR THEATRES. 

What a wonderful change ! Not long ago, a theatre in Portland seemed to 
be out of the question. We had tried, over and over again, year after year, 
but in vain ; although something would be set up and called a theatre, even 
the "Portland Theatre;" but after a few convulsive gasps, it would undergo a 
change, and actually disappear, sometimes for a long period. But just now, 
such is the desire, such the rage for theatricals, that we have not only amateur 
clubs, dramatic-associations and itinerant companies, wandering hither and 
thither in our midst and about our neighborhood, but no less than two theatri- 
cal companies, with two regularly organized theatres, under a different name, 
to be sure, one being "The Portland-Museum and Opera-House," in Fluent's 
Block, and the other ''Ward's Opera-House," in what used to be known as 
Music-Hall, on Congress-street, with a "grand Family-Matinee," on every Satur- 
daj-afternoon ! And all this, too, while we have theatrical performances in 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



131 



our Congress-square church-vestry (UniversaUst), for some charitable or other 
purpose. And why this cliange ? Simply because, our people have come to 
their senses, and are as willing to hear a sermon from the stage, as from the 
platform or pulpit, and as ready to see a sermon acted in a theatre — or muse- 
um — or opera-house — by well-behaved men and Avomen, as in the Plymouth 
Church, N. Y., or in other ecclesiastical bodies. And this, too, without any 
falling away, or backsliding. It is not roe, who have changed, but they, the 
managers and caterers for such institutions. What was once not only tolerated 
upon the stage, by our best people, but encouraged, like the Beggar's Opera, the 




PORTLAND MUSEUM AND OPERA-UOUSE. 

Tartuffe, or Hypocrite, the Fair Penitent, and fifty others we could name, have 
passed away, and would not be endured without emasculation, so that our 
conscientious objections are no longer in play; and then too, more attention is 
paid to the moral character of i^layers now ; and it is no longer said, nor even, 
suggested, that we have no mare right to complain of Portia, or Juliets' repre- 
sentative, though abandoned or shameless, than of a shoemaker for unfaith- 
fulness as a husband, or misbehavior generally, provided his workmanship is 



132 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

what it should be. This dangerous fallacy, which served in other days, would 
not be listened to, in our day. And therefore it is, that some of the sturdiest 
among the adversaries of theatrical representations and theatres, have lately 
undergone — to all appearance — a thorough change of opinion — myself among 
the number. 

Once, and for many years, a friend of theatrical performances, though never 
intimate with actors or actresses, nor ever an habitual frequenter of theatres, 
either abroad or at horns, I was led into a severe criticism of certain actors and 
actresses, whose profligate behavior stirred me up, and exasperated me, while 
they were continually urging the example of Addison, of Dr. Johnson, of Dr. 
Young, or of Hannah Moore, as writers of plays, to justify their mis-representation 
of character, by their private lives, which rendered their best playing, an offen- 
sive caricature. And then — to follow out some of these changes — a proper 
occasion having presented itself, and the stage being occupied by men and 
women of good character — well-behaved moralists, if nothing more, I began to 
speak well of plays — plays of the right kind, I mean, of course — and of actors, 
where I knew them to be quite as good as the rest of us. Whereupon, my 
excellent friend Dr. Cari'uthers, called on me and remonstrated ; and the conse- 
quence was, that I went off upon quite another tack, and, without abandoning 
my convictions, or shuflllng, I added a few qualifications; and so far did I 
carry my love of consistancy, as a church-member, that I refused to see the 
performance of my old friend Hackett, whom I had introduced upon the London 
stage, when he came here and played Falstaff, his greatest character, and the 
richest of all his fine personations, if I may judge by what I have heard; for I 
never saw it, nor him afterward. 

But the change has come, and I am heartily glad of it. We may have 
preaching now, and the best of preaching from the stage, as well as from our 
closets, or pulpits ; and just as there may be silent preaching, by our daily walk 
and conversation, so there may be, by playing. 

A word or two now of our theatrical history. Wlien I was a boy, and a very 
small boy, not over eight or ten, I was taken to our first theatre, near Union 
Hall, I should say, where a farce, which I have never met with, nor heard of 
since. Blue Deyils, was undergoing a representation. Though not much of 
a critic, I remember being sadly puzzled by "me father," and "O, me father!" 
uttered by a pretty girl, as she clung to an old white-haired man, the very 
image of the late James D. Hopkins — if not James D. Hopkins himself — in 
whose house, connected with a rope-walk, where the Hopkins-block now stands, 
my mother lived. 

But my pleasure Avas shortlived — "me father! O, ??ie father !" being about 
all I heard of the play, and all I saw, except the light of a candle which I mis- 
took for a star, seen through a heavy baize curtain. I was wanted elsewhere 
it seemed — having swindled my poor mother out of her consent, by saying 
that I shouldn't wonder if Mr. Jenks, the printer, for whom I had done some 
little errand, should take me with him to see the play, whereupon she pooh- 
poohed I at my folly, in supposing such an event within the limits of possibility. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



13a 



but did not say no. And therefore I went. Being alarmed by my absence, how- 
ever, all at once it popped into ber bead tbat perhaps I had gone to the devil in the 
way mentioned; and so she started a couple of the " friends " on my track, one 
of whom, after hurrying me away, just as I began to breathe freely, took me 
down to the old jail, then kept by Gibbs, in the rear of our new City-IIall, and 
there, standing at the huge wooden gate, made believe all he could, to frighten 
me — but he failed — failed pitibly — and I went home to my dear mother, a 
wiser, if not a sadder boy. 
Our next theatre, after many a long year, was in the Union Hall — but I 




VIEW ON MIDDLE STREET. 

never saw the inside of it; and then our old play-goers, who, as business-men, 
believed that a theatre would be a great attraction to strangers, got together, and 
about forty years ago, built a very respectable theatre on Free-street, whicli was 
in full blast for a season or two — with long intervals of rest — and then sold to 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, who purged it, as with fire, remodelled it, and 
finally added a tall spire and a handsome turret, and stuccoed the front, and 
made it one of our finest buildings. 



134 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

After this — many years after — Mr. Francis O.J. Smitli, one of our most 
energetic, adventurous and remarkable men, built a theatre for us in Union 
street, -which, after awhile, came into the hands of Mr. John B. Brown, and 
then into those of his first partner in business, Mr. St. John Smith, another of 
our straight-forward, prosperous and wealthy country-boys. 

And now, after another long interval, during which we have been satisfied 
with occasional exhibitions at our City Halls, both old and new, and at Deering 
Hall, by wandering associations, we have these two theatres. Museums, or 
Opera-Houses — whichever you will — to satisfy the reasonable desires of our 
young men, and keep them out of mischief — to say nothing of our old men — 
and very little of the strangers, that are believed to be on their way, tolled in, 
or roped in, we care not which, so that they bring their money and take away 
our goods. Boi,h of these houses are prettily finished and furnished, and very 
creditable to our taste, and the companies are said to be /((ss-raie, as General 
Tom Thumb used to say, with his little, cracked, trumpet-voice. 

CUB BAXKS — THE MAINE SAVINGS. 

On Exchange-street. Benjamin Kingsbury, jr., late municipal judge and 
then mayor, president. Alfred Barton, cashier. Deposits, and accumulated 
interest, nearly /our millions. This, too, is an institution we have reason to be 
proud of. Carefully managed, exceedingly prosperous, we may be thankful 
indeed for the security it offers to the productive classes and property-holders 
— the builders and mechanics of our city. 

OUR BANKS — THE NATIONAL TRADERS. 

A. K. Shurtleff, president — another of our earnest and faithful business 
men, occupying the front second-story chamber ; as it did that of a low, brick 
building on Fore-street, before the fire, with stairs outside. Edward Gould, 
cashier. Capital, §250,000. 

OUR PRIVATE BANKING-HOUSES. 

We never have had a private banking-house, here, until Messrs. John B. 
Brown & Sons, launched out into a new field of enterprise, after their enor- 
mous sugar-house had been swept away, with all of its outlying appendages, by 
the great fire, and opened at No. 49 Exchange-street — our Wall-street — in a 
large, handsome building, put up to order, by Mr. William W. Thomas, of 
pressed brick, with free-stone trimmings, iron pillars, &c. ; followed by Mr. 
William N. Gould, with his private "Bank of Portland," in a very modest, 
unpretending, though evidently profitable way. But we have had, and still 
have, brokers, eminently trustworthy, to supply certain of our wants, such as 
Henry M. Payson, 32 Exchange-street, Swan &, Barrett, 100 Middle-street, and 
Willi^-m E. Wood, 61 Exchange-street, all bankers in their way. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



135 



BOOK STORES — BA.ILEY AND NOTES. 

We have already had occasion to say a few words, about this fine establish- 
ment, but, having had our attention called to it afresh, we find that we have 
not done the parties full justice. 

In the first place, the store itself is one of the largest, handsomest, and most 
conveniently arranged business-establishments of the kind, in all the United 
States. 

In the next place — to be more particular — the building itself occupies the 




BAILEY & >'OYES' BLOCK. 

ground of two large deep stores on Exchange-street — the "Wall-street of Port- 
land — is three stories high, with a French roof, and built of pressed-brick, with 
iron caps and Albert-stone sills and trimmings. 

The Sales-room on the ground floor is believed to be, and undoubtedly is, the 
finest bookstore in Maine, with an overflow of all that is precious in literature. 



136 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

In the third place, the finish throughout is very beautiful, being of carved 
walnut, chestnut and butternut woods, just such as Michaux, in his North 
American Sylva, first called our attention to, as a mine of wealth, and a trea- 
sury of taste, in comparison with which the foreign woods we have heretofore 
used so abundantly are but rubbish in many cases, and even the best, not so 
beautiful as our commonest native-growth — the birds-eye maple and black ash 
for example. Here you find a collection of authors in most of the languages 
now in use ; with all kinds of stationery, account-books, writing papers of the 
most beautiful tinting, perfumed note paper, and all the luxuries of boudoir, 
office, and counting-room. 

On the second floor, they have a constant supply of the Chickering pianos, 
and of Mason and Hamlin's Cabinet Organs, of the best character and most 
beautiful workmanship — this firm being the exclusive agents for both, in this 
part of our country. 

Up another flight, you find yourself in a large hall, given over to the exhibi- 
tion of paper-hangings of all patterns, colors and prices. 

And finally, on mounting to another story, you enter one of the largest and 
best arranged book-bindei'ies of New-England, superintended by Mr. George S. 
Bailey, and turning out a large quantity of the best work that can be done 
by skilled workmen, with machinery and bi'ains for whatever may be wanted. 

EAGLE SUGAK-KEFINEBY. 

John Sparrow, President; John Sparrow, G. S. Hunt and J. W. Williams, 
Directors. Geo. S. Hunt c% Co., selling agents. 

It is only within a few years, eight or ten perhaps, that we have meddled 
with the business of refining sugar ; and this, notwithstanding our large Cuba 
trade, amounting almost to a monopoly, and though dull now, on account of 
the domestic troubles in that most beautiful island, quite sure to revive with 
the first signs of tranquility there. 

The Eagle Sugar-Refinery was incorporated in 1S03, with an allowed capital 
of $250,000. They manufacture sugars from molasses only, and have a wide 
reputation for what are called C — C C — and extra C sugars. 

The process is by boiling in vacuo, and purging with centrifugal machinery. 
They are able to turn out the product of from seventy to eighty hhds. per day, 
yielding about twenty tons of sugar; and now it is said that their full time 
capacity is all of one hundred and fifty hhds. a day. 

Take it altogether, by and large, as the sailors say, this Company may be 
justly regarded as at least equal to any in the United States. It is not a kiln- 
drying operation — steam only is employed — and no fires are used, except for 
the boiler, which generates all the steam required throughout the works. It 
may be worthy of especial mention, that a committee of the New- York under- 
^vriters, who went through the land for purposes connected with their business, 
decided, after a thorough examination, that the Portland Eagle Sugar-Refinery 
was beyond all question, the best establishment of the kind they had ever 
seen. 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



137 



After a course of patient and careful, and it may well be supposed, of costly 
experiment, the works were remodelled, in 1869, and such improvements were 
introduced, as enabled them to double their producing power. As already men- 
tioned, their sugar is made from molasses, and not refined sugars — and the 
process being now well understood, and justly appreciated — not kiln-boiling, 
but steam boiling — the product bears a ready market-value for all they can 
furnish. 

They furnish eleven grades of sugar to satisfy the continually increasing 
demands of the market, and these range from nearly white, down to a dark 




EAGLK SLGAU KEKIXEUV. 

yellow, and all are kept to a scrupulous unchanging standard, so that purchas- 
ers may always be sure of what they order. The process itself is known as the 
centrifugal, and is everywhere valued for the safety and quickness of its ope- 
rations. 

Tiio sugars are barreled off on the fifth day after the molasses is received. 
The machinery is very beautiful and ingenious. There are twenty-four centri- 
fugals in the lower story; ten vacuum-pumping engines, two vacuum pans, 
two steam-boilers, each of two hundred horse-power. 

About two thousand hhds. of water are used every day for condensing the 
vapor which rises from the vacuiun pans. The boiling is done at a temperature 



138 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

as low as 120°, with a vacmim of twenty-eight inches ; which is indicated by 
exceedingly delicate instruments attached to the pans. At any time, the water 
pumps can be turned on and used as force-pumps. The steam-pump has a ca- 
pacity equal to that of two steam fire-engines, and 150 feet of hose are always 
ready for use. The furnace is set on a brick floor, and the steam pumps are 
all covered with asbestos. 

No steam-pipe runs nearer than four inches to any wood-work ; and where 
the pipes run through the floor, they are set in tin plates, and tin is freely used 
throughout the building, wherever there are any pipes. The works are abun- 
dantly lighted from the skies, and gas only used in the office and one other 
place, near a stairway to the basement. The walls are protected with iron, 
and the whole interior made undeniably safe. The machinery is in perfect 
order — and always kept so — the store-room is fire-proof, and the pan-room 
carefully watched. The store is about twenty feet in the rear of the main 
buildings, which are of brick, and here it is that the molasses is stored until 
wanted. 

OUR POKTLAXD MECHANICS AXD APPREXTICES. 

Last evening, Sept. 30, we had a great gathering of our mechanics at the 
seventeenth triennial, of the Maine Charitable-Mechanic Association ; and a 
supper worthy of the occasion, with speeches, toasts, songs, and lots of me- 
chanics' wives, daughters and sweethearts, to make it pleasant for strangers. 

Out of debt — wholly oat of debt. — with a building, worth to-day, nearer a 
hundred and twenty-five or one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, than what 
it cost in 1856, with the land — that is, ninety thousand dollars; with a library 
of four thousand volumes, a clear income of four thousand dollars a year, and 
about to organize a school of design, for the mechanical arts in all branches, 
free of access to all who come properly introduced — what may not be hoped 
from the mechanics of Portland, hereafter? 

Compare the public, ay, and the priuaie-buildings of our city, put up within 
a few years, just before and since the fire, and going up now in every part, 
with all that had been done before, and then say whether Portland has not re- 
deemed herself, and acquired imperishable honor, by her enterprize and thrift, 
her ambition and her taste. And this, be it remembered, is mainly the work 
of our mechanics. Having associated together in 1815, under great difficulty 
and discouragement, only fifty-seven in all, they persevered through evil report 
and through good report, undergoing the trials common to ail our producing 
classes, and all our property-holders, during the war of 1812 to 1815 — with all 
that preceeded and all that followed, the wasting of our heritage by embargoes, 
non-importation acts, and non-intercourse acts — until they had built for 
themselves and their children's children, in perpetuity, that noble monument, 
the Mechanics'-Hall. * 

We had a capital summary view of its past history, in the address of Mr. 
Charles P. Kimball, the late gubernatorial candidate of our two-fisted, strong 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



139 



hearted democracy, and were not a little gratified to learn, that, for a long 
time, though not from the first, when the bells rang out their eleven o'clock 
and four o'clock invitation to the grog-shop or the rum-jug— but for many- 
years, their constitution denied membership to all drinking-men, without 
waiting till they became drunkards by profession ; for this association, there- 
fore, it was claimed, not by Mr. Kimball, alone, but by others, that they began 
the temperance counter-march, to sobriety, which has ended — where we find it 
now. But Mr. Oliver Gerrish, one of its oldest members, informed us that the re- 
form originated in the Ancient-Landmark Lodge, of Free-and-Accepted masons, 
long before 1815— about 1807, he thinks. Be it so. Whenever it begun — and 




VIEW COUNEB OF BROWN AKD CONGBESS-STllEETS. 

whoever began it — great good has been accomplished, and not a little mischief, 
by over-doing, and by attempting impossibilities, by combining politics with 
temperance, and forgeting the injunction, to be temperate in all things. 

A son of Captain Coyle, with a rich, ponderous voice, well worth remembering, 
was persuaded to give us a song — one verse of which, canonized the wine-cup, 
as did most of the songs, in use fifty years ago — and though he apologized hand- 



140 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

somely, yet, when called out by a vociferous encore, many times repeated, he 
gave us another, in praise of beer, of malt, and hops, and brown stout, as the ali- 
ment of our fathers, the Gods of the Sea. Of course, all the hearty, generous, 
old-fashioned tipplers, whether of beer, ale, brown-stout, Santa-Cru?, or Jamai- 
ca, or Holland-gin, will remember the doctrines that were always to be heard 
on festivals, election-day, and fourth of July — 
"If any pain or care remain, 
Let's drown it in the bowl." 

For example; or 

"Delightful days of whim and soul, 

When mingling love and laugh together, 
"We leaned the book on Pleasures' bowl, 
And turned the leaf with Folly's feather. 
&c., &c. 

And when John Pierpont — that apostle of temperance — wrote "thy glass may 
be purple and mine may be blue," upon a question of theology, while he gave up 
Beecherism for Unitarianism. 

But our friends of the Maine Charitable Mechanic-Association, must not be 
left here. In addition to their pledge, now about to be redeemed, quietly, and 
unostentatiously, to establish a school of design, for the help of beginners and 
strangers, who need instruction, as a capital to enter life with, so that they 
may not only design, but execute, hereafter, with a full understanding of me- 
chanics, of properties, of the strength of material, and of safety from fire — in 
addition to this — they have almost pledged themselves — would we might say not 
only almosthut, altogether, as Paul did — to revive, or, at any rate, to establish a 
liberal system of apprenticeship, so that the rash and presumptuous boys may be 
helped, who are now turned loose upon society, after a few months worried away 
in some mechanical trade, only to spoil whatever they undertake — at half 
price — and at quarter- work, until, in the hurry of business, they supersede our 
skilled workmen. Ignorant, perhaps, of the very elements of the trade they 
profess — the verv alphabet — they rush headlong into business for themselves, 
underbid others who have gone through a long course of training, if not of regu- 
lar apprenticeship — or as journeymen. Of this great evil — evil to the young 
men who are honestly disposed to earn their own living, and evil to the com- 
munity, Mr. Kimball spoke earnestly, and with his large experience, in a way 
to produce a profound impression. To hear some people talk about the labor- 
ing or productive classes, one would almost believe, that they had never heard of 
our great Master, who chose fishermen for apprentices, and was himself a car- 
penter, nor of Paul, the tent-maker. 

CUB COUNTKT-BOYS — DEVELOPED. 

Everywhere — in all the cities and commercial-centres of our country, at any 
rate, if no where else — they have their A. T. Stewarts and Cornelius Yander- 
bilts, and a class of leading business-men and professionals, lawyers, doctors 
and preachers, who were born and bred in the country ; men who labored in 
their boyhood, up to man's estate, and learned to breathe freely, without much 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



141 



help, until they began to feel acquainted with themselves, and to find out, by little 
and little, what they were good for — and then hopped the twig — and launched 
forth into God's free air, and became, after a few years, the foremost among 
their fellows. 

We have a hundred or two of such men among us ; and nothing would gratify 
us more than to read their biographies — their auto-biographies, if you will — 
to follow them, step by step, through their preparatory exercises, in the country 
school-house, wading through snow drifts up to their necks, or in the dark 




VIEW ON CONGRESS-STREET. 

wilderness, getting out wood for the winter, and cutting and splitting the knot- 
tiest and most unmanageable of logs, like so many playthings, till they lay 
piled in heaps, for oven, wood, and so on, up — and up — and up — until we 
find them Presidents of Banks, clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring 
sumptuously every day, the acknowledged leaders in all great enterprises of 
the day. 
Among these, and the very first that occurs to our recollection, for we have 



142 POBTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

known them well, from their first coming to Portland, are John B. Brown, of 
Lancaster, New Hampshire — we do not like to say the Honorable John B. 
Brown, nor John B. Brown, Esquire, for such every-day embellishments add 
nothing to the value of such men — and St. John Smith, once co-partners in 
trade here, and keeping a small country-store — for it was nothing else, even 
here — in Morton's Block, on Middle, now Congress-street, just above the Long- 
fellow mansion, bartering their groceries for hoop-poles and shooks, country- 
produce and all sorts of truck, as they do, away up in Oxford. 

It seems they were both in the same store as shop-boys, at Gray, if I do not 
mistake the place, a small, quiet village, about fifteen miles from Portland. 
After getting well acquainted with the business — such as it was — and with the 
farmers in all that region, such as they were — they began to hear "The night- 
mare moaning of Ambitious breast," and forthwith pulled up stakes, and started 
for Portland, Smith to enter a small shop, or store, on Exchange-street, where 
his uncle, Elijihalet Smith, one of our old-fashioned retail haberdashers, had 
grown rusty over pins and needles, quality-bindings and cheap calicoes. What 
Brown took to for a season, I never knew; but when I returned from abroad, 
after an absence from Portland of a dozen years, or so, I found them both in 
business together as Smith and Brown, and evidently prospering, though in a 
small way, compared with what they have done separately, since their separation. 

And the result has been, after a busy life of about fifty years, that Mr. Smith 
is one of our largest real-estate holders, with handsome blocks of stores and 
houses in different parts of the city, and his fellow shoji-boy, not only one of 
our largest, but I am inclined to believe the largest property-holder among us — 
paying a tax for himself of twenty thousand dollars ; owning many blocks of 
stores among our handsomest and best, and one block of dwelling-houses, if no 
more, a large, beautifully ornamented, and highly cultivated domain, away up 
on Bramhall-Hill, with what deserves to be called a chateau, or villa, occupied 
by himself, and with a cluster of tasteful habitations, occupied by his children, 
all within half rifle-shot of their father. 

And now, just now, we find him building another block, of four large, hand- 
some, brick-stores, on Cross-street, 100 by 74 feet — a large manufacturing ware- 
house on Union-street, and filling up a large district on the water-side, where 
no less than three wharves, belonging to him, are now fully occupied, Brown's 
wharf, the Berlin Mill's wharf, and Merchants' wharf; to all these, and from 
one to another, he is also laying railways; whereby, uninterrupted com- 
munication may be kept up, with all our leading railways, and with our 
great lumbering-region. But enough — are not such men worth mentioning, 
while they are yet alive, and busy among us ? or would you have them and us 
wait for an obituary notice ? 

And then we have T. C. Hersey, a former partner of St. John Smith, and 
one of our most faithful, earnest and thoroughbred business-men, among the 
foremost of those indeed, who have introduced large manufacturing-associa- 
tions among us. 

And the two Springs, Andrew and Samuel E., both country-boys, and both 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



143 



among our foremost busiuess-men ; and the two Joses, Horatio N., and Charles 
E. — and George W. Woodman — and William Deering — and William II. Milli- 
ken — and the two Storers, Horace P., and Frederick, and the two Libbys, 
Harrison I., president of the First National-Bank, and James B. ; and Shurt- 
leff, Ambrose K., president of the I^ational Ti'aders'-Bank, all of the back 
country growth, and all men to be proud of — to say nothing of our town-bred 
property-holders, and bank-presidents, who are not among those who die of 
sheer inanition, or live, rubbing their shins, or twirling their thumbs, and com- 
plaining — or murmuring — at all the ways of Providence; lamenting the good 




VIEW vy illDDLE STUKET, 



old times, and thinking only of their misfortunes, of their losses and trials, and 
disappointments and sorrows, but never of their comforts and blessings and 
deliverances and exemptions — of whom we have enough and to spare among 
some of our thriftiest old good-for-nothings, who, if the truth must be spoken, 
have no business here. But enough — we must draw the line somewhere, else 
we should only be filling out a catalogue of mere names, without a word to dis- 
tinguish one from another, which would never do — Portland is not to be 
illustrated in that way ; and therefore, we must be satisfied with a few stero- 
scopic-views and a turn or two of the kaleidoscope, however much we may 
desire to deal with scores who have not been mentioned, and whom we have no 
space for mentioning here. 



144 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

GKAIS^D ABMT OF THE EEPUBLIC. 

A Fair has just been opened In our City-Building, for the help of this most 
praiseworthy organization. An address was delivered last evening, brief and 
comprehensive, by Charles P. Kimball, who had been greatly consi)icuous 
at the very outbreak of the rebellion, by introducing an order, which passed 
the City Council, providing for the support of the families of volunteers ; and 
being himself what we have called a war-democrat, we had, and still have, 
all the more reason for thankfulness ; for who can over-estimate the influence 
of such a resolution, at such a time, by such a man, throughout this whole 
region ? 

From this address, remarkable alike for its im pretending truthfulness and 
simplicity, we have taken several passages, which embody an amount of infor- 
mation respecting our first movements in Portland, not elsewhere to be found, 
and of such a nature, as to well deserve a more permanent shape, so much 
does it concern the character of our people, as a self-sacrificing community, 
energetic, prompt and faithful in the discharge of their obligations to their 
beloved country. 

On hearing that fires had been opened upon Fort Sumpter, the outrage was 
felt, like an earthquake throughout the land. Our whole population sprang to 
their feet ; and the following passage will show something of the stir that fol- 
lowed : 

" Sunday, April 21st, was one of the most exciting days of the war. A public 
meeting assembled in front of the old City-Hall that could be numbered by 
thousands, from a notice of less than two hours ; speeches were made by C. C. 
Woodman, Wni. P. Fessenden, F. O. J. Smith and Albion Witham, and one 
other. This was the first great war meeting in Portland ; but one feeling pre- 
vailed, and that was to defend the flag and to stand by the government and the 
constitution." 

On the 22d of April, the Legislature came together, and Governor Washburn, 
our present Collector, sent in a message — or delivered an address — which was 
received with a transport of enthusiasm. 

" Immediately at its close Mr. Gould, of Thomaston, one of the ablest and 
most prominent Democrats of the State, introduced a resolution pledging the 
entire resources of the State in men and money to the vigorous support of the 
government in an effort to put down the rebellion." 

And this pledge was gloriously redeemed. 

" The Legislature promptly responded to the patriotic recommendations of 
the Governor and the wishes of the people. Gen. Veazie, of Bangor, tendered 
the State a loan of $50,000 ; other banks and bankers promptly followed. En- 
listments went on as they never did before, and probably never will again. The 
excitement continued to be intense. Business was neglected or at a stand still. 
The calm, dignified Judge Davis adjourned the supreme judicial court on the 
23d day of April, stating that his mind was so pressed with the cause of his 
country that he felt he was w\fit to try a case. He had no doubt the lawyers, 
clients and jury felt the same." 

The generous contagion spread like a prairie-fire. 

" Troops began to pour into Portland from this section of the State. The 
Norway Light Infantry, Capt. Beals, I think, were the first to arrive, and they 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 145 

were received by our citizens and soldiers with great enthusiasm and admiration. 

" The first regiment was speedily formed and went into camp, and were soon 
mustered into the United States service. And then, for the first time, the 
stern duties and regulation of United States soldiers were required of them. 
They were not then allowed to spend a portion of their days and nights with 
their families." 

And then followed the arrangements heretofore mentioned. 

" They soon began to realize they were soldiers indeed, and the thought of 
leaving their families began to haunt them. The money they had left at home 
would soon be gone, then who would care for the wife and children? How 
well I remember those sad days, and how I pray to God I may never see their 
like again. The feeling of the soldiers soon reached the people and the city 
authorities. Mayor Thomas called a special meeting of the City Council to see 
what action they would take looking to the care of these families. 

'* One of the aldermen introduced an order appropriating the sum of ten 
thousand dollars for the aid of the wives and children of the soldiers from this 
city. This order was unanimously passed, and a committee of both branches 
of the city government was appointed to carry out the provisions of the order, 
and I say with pride for this city, that I know the work was faithfully done." 

The alderman referred to here was but one of many who began to feel their 
accountability; and 10,000 dollars to begin with was no trifle at the time, though 
we thought nothing of hundreds of thousands after awhile. 

"But," continues Mr. Kimball, 

"The same evening, a member of the Common Council offered, and the 
Council passed, a resolution saying to all the men that had or should hereafter 
enlist, that we should consider their families as children of the city. I am thus 
particular that you may plainly see, under what fair promises and pledges, 
those brave men, who had heart and courage enough to lay down their lives for 
their country, left their beloved wives and precious children. How well I re- 
member the warm pressure of their hand, as they tearfully left their homes to 
fight, that you and I might enjoy the blessings of this free country. And how 
feelingly they would say to you, meaning the people of this city: *We leave our 
wives, our children, our loved ones, all in your care. See to it that they do not 
suffer at your hands.' Friends, have we done all for them we promised, all 
that they desire? We have done much for which God will bless us a thousand 
fold, but much more needs to be done. Shall we shrink from our duty now, 
or go on ? 

"At last, a sense of this great and solemn obligation began to be felt in the 
hearts of our people, far and wide, all over the land ; and in 1805, an organiza- 
tion, calling itself the grand army of the republic, sprang up, in 
golden panoply complete. Originating at Decatur, Illinois, and beginning with 
a representation of eleven States only, which organized the first National 
Encampment, Nov. .30, 1866, it went on, till in December, 1867, twenty-one 
States were represented at the Pennsylvania Convention, with a membership of 
over 200,000, which has been constantly increasing. 

"The Department of Maine was organized January, 1868, and now we have 
twenty-one posts, in the most perfect working order." 

But enough — the address itself was worthy of the occasion, and the Fair, 
with all its contributions, and attractive arrangements, something to be proud 
of, and thankful for, not only now, but hereafter. Let all the people say 
Amen! 

If you would know more particularly, what Portland accomplished during 
the war, from the very outbreak to the end, when her maimed and scarred 



146 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

veteran survivors returned in triumpli to their homes, and took their places 
among us, just as if nothing had haijpened, loolv at pages 120-122. Tlie liistory 
of tlie world contains nothing to be compared with what followed the disband- 
ing of our armies. Instead of levying contributions all along our highways ; 
instead of over-running the land with banditti and thieves, ravishers, house- 
breakers and pillagers, our soldiers went back to their business, to their 
workshops and counters and counting-rooms, at the first tap of the drum — 
ready to re-appear, if wanted at the second tap, as they had over and over again, 
during the war, after being relieved on furlough, a hundred thousand at 
once. Of a truth, one hardly knows which most to wonder at, their bravery in 
battle, their patience under the wrongs and outrages of the prison-houses, or 
their immediate acquiescence in the order of its change, or their amazing self- 
control and self-respect, as manifested on their return to civil life. 

WESTBEOOK SEMINARY. 

We are indebted to a friend for the following account of another institution, 
which has done much, and promises more. 

"The Westbrook Seminary had its birth in a resolution passed by the Kenne- 
bec Association of Universalists, in its annual session at Greene, Sept. 29>. 
1830."— Eeu. Wm. A. Drew, in Gospel Banner of April, 1870. 

"This Convention provided for a meeting at Westbrook, to take into consid- 
eration the matter of a classical school, or Seminary, 'digest a plan for the same,' 
and taking measures for accomplishing the object. Revs. W. A. Drew, of Au- 
gusta ; S. Brimblecom, of Norridgevvock ; W. I. Reese, of Portland ; Hons. C. 
Holland, of Canton; J. Dunn, jr., of Poland; S. Gardiner, of Bowdoinham; 
Elisha Harding, of Union; Maj. J. Russ, of Farmington; Dr. A. Pierce, of 
Greene ; Gens. Thomas Todd, of Portland, and J. Herrick, of Hampden, were 
appointed to address the public upon the subject. There was considerable dis- 
cussion in this convention, as to location ; Waterville, Winthrop and Westbrook, 
were named, but finally, as there was no similar iiistitution in New England 
(or indeed, as far as known, in the world), it was thought to make the school 
as accessible as might be, to Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and it was 
established at Westbrook. According to appointment, a meeting was holden at 
Stevens' Plains, Oct. 27, 1830, Dan. Read, of Lewiston, was chosen president, 
and Daniel Winslow, of Portland, secretary. It was voted to adopt a constitu- 
tion, and petition the next Legislature for an act of incorporation. This was 
obtained, and the Westbrook Seminary incorporated, and the following trustees 
appointed: J. C Churchill, F. O. J. Smith, Daniel Winslow, Nathan Nutter, 
Wm. Slemmons, Moses Quinby, Josiah Dunn, W. A. Drew, D. McCobb, G. W. 
Tinker, Alfred Pierce. These, with others allowed by the Charter, met the 
following May, and organized as follows: Hon. J. C. Churchill, president, 
Daniel Winslow, vice-president and secretary, Hon. F. O. J. Smith, treasurer. 
The Universalist convention, which met in June, at Farmington Falls, endors- 
ed the plan and purpose, and appointed Rev. Messrs. Drew and Brimblecom , 
to address 'our Religious public,' on the subject. Mr. Brimblecom, was at 
that time in charge of the parish at Stevens' Plains, and was one of the most 



148 PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 

earnest workers in collecting funds, and pushing the matters of the Seminary 
toward completion. He was at that time associate editor of the Christian 
Pilot, and mentions in the issue of May 23, 1833, that 'the building is now in 
progress.' In the spring of 1834, a 'brick-building, 37x70, two stories high, 
with a cupola,' was erected on land generously given by Z. B. Stevens, and O. 
Buckley, Esq. Cost of building about $7000. 

"The first term commenced June 9, 1834, with Eev. Samuel Brimblecom, 
principal. Rev. Alvin Dinsmore, assistant. Board was secured in iirivate 
families, in the neighborhood, at $1.25 to $1.75 per week. Mr. Brimblecom re- 
signed in the fall of 1836. Between this time and 1839, Mr. Furbush had 
charge of the school, a portion of the time. In 1839, John K. True, was chosen 
principal, and remained until Dec. 1842; to him the following principals suc- 
ceeded. 1843, Moses B. Walker, and Geo. W. True ; 1844, E. P. Hines ; 1846, 
G. W. Bradford ; 1849, Rev. L. L. Record ; 1851, Mr. Nathaniel Hatch. Rev. 
J. P. Weston, came to the charge, in March, 1853. The school had been closed 
for several terms, and was in a very low state. Mr. Weston gave it new life, 
and it began to show permanent strength. 

"Chiefly through Mr. Weston's untiring efforts, money was raised for build- 
ing and furnishing Goddard-Hall. He resigned in the fall of 1859. From that 
time, the school was under the charge successively of Messrs. C. S. Fobes, S. B. 
Rawson and B. G. Ames, until Rev. S. H. McCoUister, took charge in the 
spring of 1861. Under his care, the institution continued to prosper. 

"Rev. J. C. Snow, was called, in 1869, and under his wise and energetic ad- 
ministration the school was established upon its present basis. Hersey-Hall 
and the new dining-hall were built, new steam apparatus put in, and other 
improvements made, to the total amount of $40,000. Mr. William A. Post came 
in 1872, and administered affairs ably until his resignation, in the fall of 1873. 
"G. M. Bodge, A. M., was called to take charge in the spring of 1874, and the 
school is greatly prospering under his care. 

"The institution provides two courses in the Collegiate Department, and con- 
fers the degree of Laureate of Arts, upon all young ladies, who successfully pass 
examination in a classical course, and Laureate of Science, in the scientific 
course. In the Academic Department, Diplomas are granted in two courses, 
English and College Preparatory. 

"The present trustees are: Hon. S. F. Hersey, of Bangor, president; D. 
Torrey, vice-president; Chas. Fobes, treasurer; G. M. Stevens, Esq., secretary. 
Members: Hon. I. Washburn, jr., Hon. N. G. Hichborn, Rev. G. W. 
Quinby, Hon. S. Perham, C. S. Fobes, A. M., Oliver Moses, Esq., Rufus 
Dunham, Esq., Hon. L. L. Wadsworth, M. B. Coolidge, A. M., Rev. W. R. 
French, Hon. A. C. Dennison, Rev. A. Battles, Rev. J. C. Snow, W. W. Harris, 
Esq., C. P. Kimball, Esq., N. K. Sawyer, Esq., C. Morrill, Esq. 

Board of instruction: G. M. Bodge, A. M., Principal; I. B. Choate, Prof, of 
Latin and Greek ; Rev. H. C. Leonard, Prof, of Belles Lettres ; F. L. Bartlett, 
Nat. Science ; M. Johnson, Mathemetics and Business ; G. A. Quimby, Prof, of 
Music; Mrs. Helen Boothby, Perceptress, Mrs. S. P. Choate, Drawing and 
Painting; Miss J. E. Bodge, Rhetoric and Composition; Miss Lizzie Hoyt, 
Teacher of Music." 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



149 



OUK BUSINESS PKOSPECTS. 




VIEW AT JUXC. OF FKEE AXD MIDDLE STREETS. 



Already have we had occasion to speak of our business-men and business 
prospects, encouragingly; but enough has not been said. Occasional items — 
with here and there suggestions arising out of incidents that have occurred, 
while this vindication of Portland 
has been going through the press, 
are not enough to satisfy the nat- 
ural desire of many among us, to 
know of a truth, what Ave have to 
depend upon, for the building up 
of a great commercial centre here 
in Portland — just here — 

In a leader of the Argus, for 
October 9, there are some facts 
mentioned, which are well worthy 
of attention — such as the follow- 
ing: "The panic, which caused 
such a crash in New- York and 
other large business-centres, hard- 
ly made a ripple here. The busi- 
ness-men of Portland weathered 
the storm, if not altogether un- 
harmed, at least not severely affected ; and the business of Portland, as a whole, 
has never been so large, safe and sound, as it has been this year. AH depart- 
ments may not be 
doing equally well, 
but all are making 
progress — are pros- 
perous to a remark- 
able and very en- 
couraging degree, 
under the circum- 
stances, with a 
broader and still 
more hopeful out- 
look for the future.''^ 
"And this," con- 
tinues the editor, 
"this, we repeat, is 
a very encouraging 
state of things. It 
shows that Port- 
land, so far from 
'wilting,' isprobably 
the most prosperous 
city in the country, 
except, perhaps, San 
Fr a n cisco — that 
amid severe depres- 
sion in many parts of the country, she is making real progress, her trade and her 
population constantly increasing — not very rapidly it is true, as compared with 
what has been seen in some Avestern cities, yet still making a healthy, solid 




VIEW ON COMMERCIAL STREET. 



150 



PORTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 




VIEW COR. EXCHANGE AND FEDERAL STS. 



growth, that will take no step backward. And this is much, in fact a great 
(leal to say, at such a period as this. It betokens well for the future of our 
beautiful city," 

"In proof of all this," contin- 
ues the writer, "one lias only 
to take a look about town, and 
consult the business-men he 
meets. There is scarcely a va- 
cant store or house. On the con- 
trary the demand for mediinn 
end cheap rents is very hrisk. 
Every new house to rent is at 
once taken, and many tenements 
have been fitted up over stores. 
A considerable number of stores 
are now in j^rocess of erection or 
soon to be undertaken — more 
than at any season, ice think, since 
the fall after the r/reat fire, and 
these stores are nearly all engag- 
ed in advance. The hotels liave 
been full all the season, and the 
'let up,' has hardly yet come." 

And now, October 13th, we 
liave the following editorial, 
from our cautious and trustworthy Press, corroborating these views, in lan- 
guage not to be mistaken. To all testimony like this we may well attach great 

importance. 

"It is proper matter for felicitation, 
that this stagnation, which is so con- 
spicuous in New- York, Boston, and 
most other trade centres, is hardly per- 
ceptible here in Portland. The panic 
of last year, which had so crippling an 
effect elsewhere, was hardly felt here, 
as our people have for many years de- 
voted themselves almost exclusively to 
legitimate business, and have dabbled 
but little in the enticing speculations 
lohose ruin in thepanic, wrought so much 
des' ruction. Portland entered upon 
the present year, in a good condition 
for business, and has been exceptionally 
prosperous in nearly every branch of 
commerce and industry. 

"There is a general agreement among 
our citizens that the city lias fairly en- 
tered upon an era of growth, in wealth 
and population, and this view is fully 
confirmed by an examination of the 
elements of prosperity in detail." 



VIEW OK FREE STREET. 




CONTENTS. 



Akers, Pawl, 
Army & Navy Union, 
Aged Brotherhood, 
Architects, our, 
Bishop's Mansion, 
Board of Trade, . 
Brooks, James, 
Barnes, Phiiieas, 
Brown, Harry, 
Beckett, Chas. E.. 

" Sylvester B., 
Burgess, Fobes & Co.'s "White Lead 

Factory, .... 
Bailey & Xoyes, . 
Business Prospects, our, 
City Hall, .... 
Custom House, 
Godman Charles, 
Cumberland Bar Association, 
Chickeriug, Kev. Dr., 
Congress Street, 
C. P. Kimball Company, 
Colesworthy, D. C, 
Cummings, Rev. Asa, D. D. 
Carriage Drives around Portland, 

Consuls, 

Congress Scjuare Universalist Church 

Chestnut Street Methodist Church, 

Climate of Portland, . . » 

Gaboon Manufacturing Co., 

Casco National Bank, 

Canal National Bank 

Clergy, our. 

Dry Djcks, 

Deering, Nathaniel, 

Davies, Charles S., 

Deane, Rev. Samuel, D. D., 

Exchange St., before and since the Fire, 

Evergreen Cemetery, 

Eagle Sugar Refinery, 

Freeman, Samuel, 

Forest City Sugar Refinery, 

Fessenden, Wm. Pitt, 

Female Orphan Asylum, 

Falmouth Hotel, 

First Parish Church, . 

" Baptist " 

" National Bank, . 
Fuller's Varnish Factory, . 
Foretellings and their Fullfilment 
Greenleaf Law Library, 
Grand Army of the Republic, 
Greenleaf, Moses, 
Greenleaf, Simon, 
Grand Trunk Railway, 
Historical liici<lents. 
Home for Aged Women, 
High Street. 
Insurance Companies. 
Kotzschuiar, Hermann, 
Longfellow, Henry W., 
Lincoln Park, 
Lumber Trade, our, 
Merchant's National Bank, 
Military Organizations, 
Middle Street, from Fost Office. 
" " before the Fire, 

" " from Market Square, 



48 



22 
48 
76 
25 
30 
44 
50 
50 
65 
74 
76 

108 

135 

149 

19 

24 

28 

47 

48 

70 

76 

78 

86 

88 

103 

105 

108 

113 

108 

115 

117 

34 

47 

49 

87 

87 

11 

91 

136 

31 

46 

50 

62 

73 

93 

101 

111 

103 

124 

48 

144 

113 

102 

129 

32 

64 

89 

122 

79 

20 

30 

104 

119 

120 

85 

14 

49 



Martin, Mrs. Clara Barnes, 
Murray, Mrs. Elizabeth, 
Mellen, Greenville, ... 68, 
Mercantile Library, . 
Musicians, our. 
Marine Hospital, . 
Medical Associations, . 
Merchant's Exchange, . 
Miiine General Hospital, 
Market Square, 
Mechanics' Hall, . 
Maine Savings Bank, . 
National Trader's Bank, 
Nichols, Rev. Ichabod, 
Newspapers and Periodicals, 
Oaksmith. Mrs. Elizabeth, . 
Ottawa House, 
Old Orchard Beach, 
Observatory, .... 
Our Country Boys Develope<l. 
Portland— Past, Pi esent and Future, 
" Ouf New. 

" Dispensary, 

" Head Light, 

" Stone Ware Co., 

" Cement Drain Pipe Co 

" Kerosene Oil Co., 

" Star Match Co., 

" Gas Co., 

" High School, 

'• and the West, 

" Rapid Growth of 

" Company, 

" Horticultural Association 

'• Savings Bank, 

<' Mechanics and Apprentices 

Private Dwelling Houses, 
Poor, John A., 
Payson Memorial Church, 
Percv, Florence, . 
Public Houses and Hotels, 
Preble House, 
Post Office, 
Prose Writers, our. 
Public Library, 
Private Banking Houses, 
Ray, Isaac, M. D., 
Reform School, 
Rolling Mills, 

Real Estate and Building Co., 
State Street, 

Sweat, Mrs. Margaret J. M., 
Schools and Schoolhouses, 
Society of Natural History, 
Safe Deposit Vaults, 
Simmonds. Franklin, 
Stephens, Mrs. Ann S., 
Tilton, John Rollin, 
Theatres, our. 
United States Hotel, 
Willis, William, 
" N. P., 
" Sarah Payson, 
Widow's Wood Hociety, 
Ward's Opera House, 
Women's Christian Association 
Westbrook Seminary, 
Young Men's Christian Association, 



152 ADVERTISEMENTS. 



AGENTS FOR CHICKERING 4 SONS' 

PIA^vTO-FOKTES, 

Concert Grands, Grands, Squares and Uprights. 

The Instruments now manufactured by this well known, long established firm, are the 
results of half a century of study, experiment and improvements. Possessing greater advan- 
tages than all other makers through this long period of increasing experience, two generations 
of active, energetic minds have been assiduously employed in perfecting their production. 

THE CHICKERING PIANOS 

are now at the head of all the Instruments manufactured in the country. For purify and 
sonorifi/ of tone, elegance of finish, thoroughness and durdbility, of structure, they rank fore- 
most of all. 

With the merely mechanical excellence, which results largely from the ingenuous inventions 
of Messrs. Chickering themselves, they combine a beauty, delicacy, and poetry of tone which is 
a rare charm, and seems to depend more on the intelligence than on the handiwork of the 
maker. It is estimated that one quarter of all the Pianos used hi America is of their make. 

THE BRADBURY PIANO FORTE 

has been manufactured about twenty years, and sold extensively throughout the United 
States. This instrument is peculiar for its soft tone; particularly adapted for singing, and 
gives great satisfaction. Everybody who sings, or who cares in the least for music, is acquaint- 
ed with the name of the originator of this instrument. The music of William B. Bradbury 
is sung all over the civilized world, and the/ameof his Piano-Fortes is fast spreading all 
through our land. 

We shall sell our stock of Chickering and Bradbury Pianos, at the reduced prices, and all 
parties intending to purchase an instrument, will find it to their advantage to enquire our 
prices, before buying elsewhere. 

MASON & HAMLIN'S CABINET ORGANS, 

for which we are also the agents, stand without a rival. 73,000 have been manufactured, and 
they alwaygive UNIVERSAL SATISFACTION. 

All Piano-Fortes and Cabinet Organs sold by us are warranted for five years. 

Remember the place. 

Bailey & jCSToyes, 

EXCHANGE STREET, ^ORTLJ^JsTrf, J^JS. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



153 



Where to Purchase a Piano. 

In learning to play the piano, the heginner needs all the interest which the 
immediate production of fine tones can add to the charms of novelty, to coun- 
terbalance the undeniable dullness of the proper exercises. It is therefore a 
very essential requisite for the best success of the pupil in all stages of progress, 
that they should have the most perfect instrument. The best Musical Talent of 
the world, pronounce Chickering & Sons' Pianos, and the Bradbury Piano- 
Forte, the finest instruments that can be constructed. Messrs. Bailey & Noyes, 
of this city, are the State agents for these Pianos, and also for the Mason & 
Hamlin Cabinet Organ. We think no one who has a family should count a 
musical instrument as an extravagance; it is an economy, and may prove in 
any house a blessed investment. We bought of Messrs. Bailey & Noyes, a 
piano for our own house, and are very happy in its possession, enjoying it so 
much that it has become an indispensable comfort. — Parties wishing to purchase 
will please accept assurance that they can biiy Pianos or Organs, at the lowest 
possible rates at tlie ware-rooms of Messrs. Bailey tfc Noyes, and rely upon get- 
ting the best. — Portland Transcript. 

The Chickering Piano. 

We invite attention to the advertisement of Messrs. Bailey & Noyes, who 
are agents for the sale of the Chickering Pianos. It will be seen that the prices 
have been reduced, in accordance with the demand of the times. Of the qual- 
ity of these pianos it is scarcely necessary to speak. The public lias passed fa- 
vorable judgement upon them for fifty years, and the forty-three thousand of 
these instruments now in use, tells of the skill of the manufacturers more 
eloquently than pen can do. They are made upon honor, and personally we 
confess to a preference for them. This, however, is of little consequence. 
Others may prefer those of other makers, but purchasers will hardly do them- 
selves justice who buy without examining these. The Messrs. Bailey & Noyes 
have a large assortment in all the various styles and costliness of finish, which 
they ai-e happy to show to those desirous of selecting good instruments. — Port- 
land Daily Argus. 

Musical. 

We would call attention to the fact that Messrs. Bailey & Noyes, of this city, 
are selling Pianos and Cabinet Organs, at the lowest possible percentage of 
profit — much lower than they have ever been sold in this State before. Parties 
wishing to purchase Musical Instruments in any part of the State, will find it 
to their pecuniary advantage to communicate directly with these gentlemen. 
They have the wholesale State agency, of the celebrated Chickering & Sons', 
and Bradbury Pianos, and the Mason & Hamlin Organs. All these instru- 
ments are world renowned, and need no special commendation from us. Yet 
we may speak of that which we know, having one of these Piano-Fortes our- 
selves, which has proved its worth to our entire satisfaction. Every intelligent 
person cognizant of musical matters, knows how essential to the learner and 
performer is the really perfect instrument. Most emphatically do we recom- 
mend our readers as above, and are sure they will find satisfaction. — Portland 
Transcript. 



154 ADVERTISEMENTS. 



The Portland Transcript. 



A FIRST-CLASS, LITERARY WEEKLY, 

Filled with Original Stories and Sketches, by the best writers ; Poems, Essays ; 
Sketches of Travel and Adventure; Reviews of and Extracts from New Books; 
Editorial Comments on Passing Events ; Letters from Tourists ; Foi-eign and 
Domestic News; State and City Items; Fun and Sentiment; Illustrated Re- 
buses, Puzzles, Enigmas, &c. ; Markets and Commercial Review; Marine List. 

TERMS: $2.50 per year. 

$2.00 if paid strictly in Advance. 



Clubbing with other Periodicals. 

The Publishers of the Transcript have made arrangements with the leading 
Magazines and other Periodicals, by which they can furnish most of the read- 
ing matter desired, at rates much below those charged when not taken in club. 

Send for specimen copy of Portland Transcript. 

For full particulars, address, 

ELWELL, PICKARD & CO., 

POBTLAND, ME. 



TO ADVERTISERS. 

The Transcript has a limited space devoted to advertisements, and its great 
circulation makes it the best possible medium for business-men, desiring to 
attract attention. Its circulation surpasses that of any other paper, daily or 
weekly, in the city, in the county, and in the State. 

For further information and for terms, apply to the publishers. 

ELWELL, PICKARD & CO., 

44 Exchange St., Portland, Me. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 155 



Francis H. Coffin, 

Bookseller and Stationer, 

ISO INv^IIDIDLE STI^EET, 

(Under Falmouth Hotel.) 



SI'EOI.A.I-.TIES. 



Appleton's American Cyclopedia, Ziemssen's Cyclopedia 
of the practice of Medicine, Guizot's Popular His- 
tory of France, and other Standard Works, 
Sold only by Subscription. 

AGENTS WANTED! 

Importer's agent for the sale of the Tauchnitz Edition of British and German 
Authors. 
Sole Agents for the Ileliotype Puhlications of James R. Osgood & Co. 

THE LARGEST VARIETY OF 

Pirie's, Wove, Repp and Double Repp Papers 
TO BE FOUND IN THE CITY. 



REMEMBER! 

■ » » ■ 

FRANCIS H. COFFIN, 

Under Falmouth Hotel. 120 Middle Street. 



156 ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Portland Steam Packet Company. 



DAILY LINE OF FIRST CLASS STEAMERS BETWEEN 

BOSTON AND PORTLAND. 

ONE OF THE FIRST-CLASS STEAMERS OF THIS LINE, 

JOHN BROOKS, EALIDTH, FOREST CITY, 

Will Leave Franklin Wharf, Portland, and India Wharf, 
Boston, every evening (Sundays excepted) throughout the 
year. 

These Steamers are well furnished, and have a large num- 
ber of elegant and airy State-rooms, and arrive in season to 
take the earliest trains going East or West. 

During the thirty years this Line has been in existence, 
it has never caused injury or loss of life, to a single passen- 
ger. 

Time of Sailing : 

Leave Portland in Summer at - - 8 P. M. 

" " " Winter at - - - 7 P. M. 

Leave Boston in Summer at - - 7 P. M. 

« « u Winter at - - - 5 P. M. 

Freight taken at low rates. State-rooms may be secured 
in advance by mail, or by application at the Agent's offices. 

WM. WEEKS, Ag't, J. B. COYLE, Jr., Gen. Ag't, 
India Wharf, Boston. Franklin Wharf, Portland. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 157 



FURNITURE! 



ENOCH LORD, 

DEALER IN 

BLACK-WALNUT, CHAMBER, 

AND OTHER 

First-Class Fiamitiire. 



Having unusual facilities for manufacturing, I am prepared to sell lower than any 

one in the City. 

JPcltIot Suuits of cuxy style, on Jhctncl cincl 
nxcLmxfcLctziTed to order. JBlaclz 'WcLlrtzit cLJzd 
^cvinted. Sets, zn great ircLvtety, corcstcLTLtly 
tTL stocJz. J^fcLvhle and. TVood Top Tables, 
WTtat-JSTots, Mall Stands of eirery style, 
SmoTctng CKatrs, Camj) CTtatrs, JEJasy and 
^ecej)tzoTi, CKatrs. 

PLEASE CALL AND EXAMINE 1 
EISTOCH LORD, 

130 Exchange Street. ^ORTLAJsTD. 



158 ADVERTISEMENTS. 



ESTABLISHED 1844. 



Wholesale and Retail Grocers, 



THE LARGEST STOCK! 

THE BEST GOODS!! 

THE LOWEST PRICES 



Corner of Exchange and Federal Streets, 
PORTLAND, ME. 

BARNES BROS., 

General InsTiraiTce Agents, 

28 Exchange St., - - Portland, Me., 

(First door North of Merchant's Exchange.) 
B. BARNES, Jr. D. 11. BARNES. 



ASSETS REPRESENTED, - - $10,000,000. 

We represent Companies nnexcelled in Character and StaivJlag, by those of 
any other Agency in tliis State. 

All business entrusted to us will be attended to promptly, and in good faith, 
toward all parties concerned. 

INSURANCE STATISTICS A SPECIALTY. 

Reliable information as to the Staj^ding of Companies freely communicat- 
ed. 
Superior facilities for placing large lines of insurance. 

Barnes Bros.^ Portland, Me. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 159 

SINGER SEWING MACHINES. 



The table of Sewing Machine Sales for 1873, shows that our sales last year, 
amounted to 232,444, (two hundred and thirty-two thousand, four hundred and 
forty-four) Machines, being a large increase over the sales of the previous year, 
(1872.) 

The table also shows that our sales 

EXCEED THOSE OF ANY OTHER COMPANY 

for the period named, by the number of 113,254 Machines, or nearly double 
those of any other Company. 

It may be further stated that the sales of 1873, as compared with those of 
1872, show a relatively LARGER INCREASE beyond the sales of other mak- 
ers, than of any other year. 

For instance, in 1872, we sold 45,000 more Machines than any other Company, 
whereas, in 1873, the sales were 113,254 Machines 

In Excess of our Highest Competitor. 

These figures are all the more remarkable, for the reason that the sales of 
the i^rincipal Comi^anies in 1873, are 

LEBS THAN TMEI£ SALEB IN 187^, 

whereas, as has been shown, 

Our Sales Have Largely Increased. 

The account of sales is from sworn returns made to the owners of the Sew- 
ing Machine Patents. 

It will hardly be denied that the Superiority of the Sikgeu Machines is 
fully demonstrated; at all events that their popularity in the household is 
unquestionable. 

H. M. WHEELOCK, 

JVew JVo. 545; Old JS^o. 331 Cortgress St., 
Agent for Portland and Vicinity. 



160 ADVERTISEMENTS. 

ESTABLISHED 1841. 

* • • ^ 

JUNCTION OF FREE & MIDDLE STREETS, 

Wholesale and Ketail Dealer in 

Fine Chemicals, Pure Drugs, 

GENUINE MEDICINES, 

Also, Varnishes, Paints, Oils, Dye-Stuffs, and all other 
articles usually kept in a Drug and Paint Establishment. 

Physicians' Prescriptions carefully Compounded, 

FROM SELECT MATERIALS. 

BOOK PTJBLISHEK, 

PORTLAND, ME. 



Agent for the Best Wood Engravers in the Country. 



Engravings of Public Buildings, Churches, Banks, 
Private Residences, Machinery, Models, &c., Sec, execut- 
ed in first-class shape, and at engravers' prices. 



